The Revolving Door
by d-kronk
Summary: When something unimaginable happens to Catherine, she learns what means the most in her life. GC
1. Default Chapter

Title: The Revolving Door  
  
Author: Angie  
  
email: hill@grics.net  
  
Disclaimers: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.  
  
Author's Notes: I really wasn't going to post this, it's not finished and I really didn't want to have two WIP's out there. But I'm going too. This fic is for Lauri who has finally come back into the goodness, and we love that. Thanks to Allison and Rita for convincing me that this is ok, there's a part in here I really wasn't sure about and debated over it for a long time. And special thanks to Juliet. The last chapter of Anger Management really made me want to post this, just for her. And more thanks to Rita for coming up with the title.  
  
Spoilers: nothing really  
  
Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI. all others please ask.  
  
* * *  
  
"Grissom." He answered sleepily. He knew he hadn't been asleep for very long, he always ended up staying longer then usual on Friday nights.  
  
"Uncle Grissom?"  
  
At the sound of the little girl's voice, Grissom sits upright in bed now fully awake. "Lindsey? Are you all right Lindsey?"  
  
"I'm scared Uncle Grissom. Mommy wont answer me and the house is messy."  
  
"Everything's going to be okay Lindsey, I'm coming right over. What phone are you on sweetie?"  
  
"I'm using Mommy's cell phone it was next to the door."  
  
"OK listen to me very carefully Lindsey. Don't hang up the phone, take it with you and keep talking to me okay. Don't go any farther into the house. I want you to go outside and shut the door behind you. Is your neighbor home?" Grissom replied calmly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He has just left Catherine a few hours ago, and things had seemed fine then. Throwing a pair of pants over his boxers he ran out of the bed room and grabbed his keys as he ran out the door.  
  
"I don't know. Uncle Grissom is Mommy all right?"  
  
"I'm sure she's going to be fine sweetheart. Go next door and ask your neighbor if you can wait inside. If no one is there wait on the porch for me okay. I'll be there in a few minutes." He was having a harder time keeping the panic out of his voice the longer he talked to the little girl and the closer he got to Catherine's house. He sped through the streets not caring if he was caught speeding or not, he was entirely focused getting to Catherine's right now and didn't care about the consequences.  
  
"Lindsey?" He asked after an unusual silence on the little girls part.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Where are you at now?"  
  
"I'm sitting on Mrs. Patterson's porch. She's not home."  
  
"Just sit there and wait for me okay. I'm just a couple of blocks away. How was your day at school? Did you have fun?" Grissom asked trying to keep the little girl talking and get her focus off of what was happening.  
  
"It was all right. We are going to have a play at school and I get to play the princess. Do you want to come to the play with Mommy? I promise you'll have fun." Lindsey said quickly.  
  
"I'd love to come see your play Lindsey." Grissom said softly. He was just turning onto Catherine's street and his mind was beginning to focus more on the situation at hand. He pulled his Tahoe into the neighbor's driveway, not wanting to risk the possibility of destroying any more evidence then necessary. Getting out of the vehicle he made his way over to Lindsey. "Lindsey." He didn't want to scare the little girl anymore then she was. He saw her stand up and made his way over to the little girl. "Come with me sweetie." Grissom said holding out his hand for the little girl. When she didn't move, he moved closer to her and picked her up. He walked back to the vehicle and opened the back door, placing Lindsey on the floor behind the passenger seat. "I want you to listen to me, Lindsey, okay? Stay here in the car and keep the doors locked. I wont be gone long I promise. Keep the phone with you and ."  
  
"And call 911 if I need to. I'll be all right Uncle Gil, please go find mommy." Lindsey interrupted.  
  
Grissom leaned down and gave her a little kiss on the forehead before reaching behind the back seat and grabbing his kit. He wasn't sure what he was going to kind in there and wanted to be prepared for anything. He then shut the door and made sure that the door was locked, Catherine would never forgive him if her daughter was harmed.  
  
He slowly made his way to Catherine's front door, he wasn't exactly sure what to expect and didn't like the feeling of dread that was slowly rising in the pit of his stomach. Before stepping onto the landing in front of Catherine's door, he reached into his kit to take out the booties to place over his shoes, and a pair of gloves. Once the task was completed and he had placed the latex gloves on his hands he entered the house.  
  
He stood open mouthed at that site in front of him. He shouldn't have been shocked considering his line of work, but this wasn't a random crime scene. it was Catherine's home and he didn't know how she was.  
  
"Catherine!" He called into the empty house. He had little hope that she would answer him, but he needed to try anyway.  
  
Not hearing a response, he started looking though the first level of her home. Turning to the left he glanced into the living room, trying to stay as close to the wall as possible to avoid destroying any potential evidence. The room had been practically destroyed. From what he could see in the doorway, the couch had been slashed and the foam was spread throughout the room. Several video tapes had smashed with the tape also spread throughout the room. Grissom couldn't tell if the disaster of the room was caused from a struggle or if it was caused by someone looking for something. Walking down the hallway, Grissom stopped when he reached the kitchen. He found more of the same mess that was in the living room, except instead of foam and tape the kitchen was strewn about with flour and sugar.  
  
Grissom found himself fighting to keep control as he continued looking through the home. Every room downstairs all showed the destruction, but he wasn't finding any sign of Catherine. Reaching the staircase, he slowly climbed to the second level, panic escalating with every step. "Catherine?" he called again once at the top of the stairs. He stood for a minute, praying to hear any kind of response. With the ever growing feeling of dread he continued his search of the house. Opening the door at the top of the stairs, which he knew was Lindsey's, he sighed in relief. The room seemed to have been spared the destruction that occurred in the rest of the home. Closing the door, he headed to the next room down the small hallway. If he remembered correctly this should be Lindsey's bathroom, and Catherine's bedroom and restroom were located on the opposite wall.  
  
Opening the door to the girl's restroom, he again felt relief when the same apparent care had been given to this room. Turning around he faced the remaining rooms on the floor. Hoping that he would find her soon, Gil opened the first door. The master bathroom, this room had not been spared the destruction of the lower floor. The smell was almost overwhelming. It was a conglomerate of beauty products, lotions, perfumes, and bath supplies. He was sure the individual scents were tantalizing, but the desired effect was far from that in this amount. Closing the door, he walked a few more steps to the bedroom. With all the courage he could muster he opened the door.  
  
This room had also been destroyed, but that's not what caught his eye. The first thing he noticed was the blood. "Catherine!" He could hear the panic in his voice, but he was beyond caring now. The only thing he could concentrate on was finding her. That's when he heard it. A soft, almost whimper that seemed to be coming from across the room. Crossing the room to the other side of the bed he didn't find the woman he was looking for. That's when he noticed the closet.  
  
to be continued 


	2. chapter 2

Title: The Revolving Door  
  
  
Author: Angie  
  
  
email: hill@grics.net  
  
  
Disclaimers: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.  
  
  
Author's Notes: I really wasn't going to post this, it's not finished and I really didn't want to have two WIP's out there. Thanks to Rita for coming up with the title. And also to Lauri for betaing this part for me.  
  
  
Spoilers: nothing really  
  
  
Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI… all others please ask.  
  
  
* * *  
  
He had thought the panic and dread he had been feeling earlier was bad, but nothing compared to what he was feeling now. Closing the distance in two strides, he reached out and wrenched the door open. That's when he finally saw her… on the floor with limbs bound behind her and duct tape covering her mouth. He prayed that it wasn't her blood she was covered in, but feared it was. Setting his case beside him he knelt down, his gaze connecting with hers. He could see the look of shear terror that was embedded in her eyes and his heart broke. He wasn't sure what to do first, untie her or remove the tape. Glancing into her eyes once again he saw his answer reflected in her eyes.  
  
  
"I'm so sorry Cath. This is going to hurt." He whispered before reaching for the tape. Turning his eyes from her view he grasped a corner of the tape and pulled it off, carefully, trying not to inflict anymore pain then she had already received. He winced when he heard her moan. He had always told himself he would protect her from harm, not only had he failed with Eddie, but now he found himself inflicting the pain on her. "Oh God Cath. I'm so sorry," her repeated softly.  
  
  
"Please, Gil, just untie me." She pleaded, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill over.  
  
  
He reached for the ropes behind her, but stopped when he heard her voice.  
  
  
"Don't." She waited until she had his full attention. "Use a knife or scissors, I don't want any evidence destroyed." A sad smile played upon her face as she watched Gil turn around to reach into his kit and take out a pair of scissors and a small handful of evidence bags.  
  
  
He reached behind her again and gently removed the rope that bound her wrists and ankles together. He then worked on the individual rope around her wrists. Just as the scissors made contacts with the rope the phone rang. Reaching into his pocket he grabbed the phone and glanced at the caller id before answering.  
  
  
"Hello… No stay where you are sweetie… Everything is fine in here… I'm with your mother right now…" He looked at Cath as he said this last line and he could see the tears she had been trying to contain slip down her cheeks. "Just stay there and wait for us okay… We'll be out as soon as we can. Okay, I'll tell her." He said just before hanging up.  
  
  
"'Tell her' what?" Catherine asked  
  
  
"I'll tell you soon, but first I need to know if you are all right." He told her, desperately wanting to wipe away the tears but knowing that Catherine wasn't going to let him 'destroy the evidence.' He had never hated that phrase more then he did today. Reaching behind her once more, he slowly cut the ropes that bound her wrists together. Once he cut through her bindings, he gathered up the rope and placed it in one of the evidence bags beside him.   
  
  
Gently moving her arms in front of her, he got a close look at the marks that had been left there. The red welts stood out against her delicate skin and he could see where her skin had turned raw in places, from her fighting against the ropes. His fingers began caressing her arms, checking for broken bones. He quickly pulled back when he heard the quick intake of air.  
  
  
"I'm okay Gil."  
  
  
"No you aren't. If you were 'okay' you wouldn't have breathed in like that. The light in this closet is awful, I need to get you out of here." Even though this last part was said out loud, he was really talking to himself. Placing an arm behind her back and the other behind her knees he easily shifted her weight into his arms. He waited for Cath to place her arms around him and then stood up. He carefully extracted them from the confines of the closet and made his way to the bed.  
  
  
"No."  
  
  
He stopped at the sound of her voice.  
  
  
"Not the bed, that's where…" Catherine stopped not wanting to continue her train of thought. "… there's going to be evidence there. You can put me down Gil, I'm sure I can walk."  
  
  
With his arm firmly around her upper body, he loosened his grip behind her knees and slowly lowered her to the floor. The small scream that came out of Catherine was enough for him to quickly raise her from the floor and into his arms again.  
  
  
"Just get me out of the house Gil." She was pleading with Grissom now. She had been trying to remain strong, but she knew she was going to lose control if she stayed in that room.  
  
  
"Do me a favor Cath?" Gil whispered. "Keep your eyes closed as go through the house. We'll get it all cleaned up for you, but you don't need to see it now."  
  
With complete trust, she followed Gil's request and let him carry her away from her nightmare come true.  
  
  
*~*~*~*  
  
  
to be continued 


	3. chapter 3

Title: The Revolving Door  
  
Author: Angie  
  
Email: hill@grics.net  
  
Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks to Rita for coming up with the title. This part hasn't been betaed, so all mistakes are mine, and mine alone. I really hadn't planned on posting this today, but I actually had some inspiration and got this chapter completed.  
  
Spoilers: nothing really, a slight reference has been made to "A Little Murder" but nothing that will ruin the episode if you haven't seen it.  
  
Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI… all others please ask.  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
*from part 2*  
  
  
"Just get me out of the house Gil." She was pleading with Grissom now. She had been trying to remain strong, but she knew she was going to lose control if she stayed in that room.  
  
"Do me a favor Cath?" Gil whispered. "Keep your eyes closed as go through the house. We'll get it all cleaned up for you, but you don't need to see it now."  
  
With complete trust, she followed Gil's request and let him carry her away from her nightmare come true.   
  
  
  
  
*And on to part 3 of "The Revolving Door"*   
  
  
*~*~*~*  
  
"Okay you can open your eyes now."   
  
Catherine slowly opened her eyes and saw that they were now standing in front of her house and heading towards Gil's Tahoe. That's when she saw Lindsey in the vehicle. She made eye contact with her daughter and the last bit of control she had slipped away.   
  
Catherine watched as Lindsey climbed out of the vehicle and ran over to them.  
  
Lindsey's nervousness was obvious as she barraged the adults with more questions then usual. "Mommy! What happened? Are you okay, your bleeding and your crying. Why is Uncle Grissom carrying you?"   
  
"Lindsey, I promised everything would be okay, I'll take care of you and your mother. Can you open the back door for me?" Gil interrupted Lindsey and hoped she would do as he asked. He watched as Lindsey went back to the Tahoe and opened the door. "Lindsey, can you go to the back and get me the first aid kit in there?" Gil asked as he nodded towards the rear of the vehicle. He watched Lindsey go to the back of the vehicle, being sure to keep a close eye on her since he still wasn't sure what had happened here this afternoon. He placed Catherine on the floor of the Tahoe in a sitting position with her legs dangling outside of the vehicle. Once that was finished he took the first aid kit from Lindsey, then asked her to wait in the front seat so he could focus on Catherine.   
  
Turning his attention to Catherine, he finally got a closer inspection of the damage that had been inflicted upon her. There was a gash above her right eye that was bleeding profusely. The cut on her right cheek wasn't bleeding as bad but it probably needed stitches as well. Glancing down from her face he saw the disarray of her clothing, and could immediately tell that it wasn't from his actions. Pushing his thoughts aside he moved his gaze to her arms. The wrist on her left arm was swollen and discolored, he was sure it was at least sprained if not broken. The welts on both of her wrists were more pronounced now that he could view them in proper light. Moving his glance down farther, he saw the tell-tale signs of bruising on her legs and inner thighs. Taking in the last part of his inspection, he spied the reason for her pain earlier. Her right ankle appeared to have suffered the same treatment as her left wrist. And the ropes around her ankles did little to hide the rawness of the skin beneath.   
  
"Cath… what happened?" He asked setting the first aid kit next to her. He knew he couldn't use it, at least not yet.  
  
Looking into his eyes, her heart broke. She knew he was feeling guilty about what happened, even if there was nothing he could have done to stop the attack. Catherine looked to the front seat and saw her daughter sitting there. "Not now Gil," she whispered. "Not in front of Lindsey."  
  
He didn't push any further for an answer, he knew the need she felt to protect her daughter, he shared the same need, only his was to protect mother and daughter. "I have to call this in Cath. Who do you want me to call, Brass and our crew or Ecklie? I'll leave the choice to you." He knew who he wanted to bring in, but he also knew how awkward it could be to have your co-workers that deeply involved in your personal life.  
  
After weighing the pros and cons, she made her decision. "Give Brass a call."  
  
Reaching for his phone Gil punched in the familiar number. "Brass?… No I know it's early. I need some help. Can you come over to Cath's house and I'm going to call in the rest of my team… She's going to be all right, just get over here Jim." Finishing that call he proceeded with the next one. "Warrick?… I'm fine but I need you to get Nick and Sara and get to Cath's as soon as possible. No, I don't know what happened, but I need you guys to process the ….process the… I need you here to gather evidence… Okay, see you in a few."   
  
Looking back at Catherine he could see the sadness in her eyes. "Cath, I need to get you to the hospital."  
  
"Not yet Gil," she said softly. "I still need to be processed…" Noticing that Gil was going to say something she quickly continued before he could interrupt. "Besides you left your kit inside. We have to wait for everyone to get here, keep the scene secure. I'll be fine Gil, I promise, and we aren't going to have to wait long. Just stay here with me, okay?"  
  
Gil couldn't keep the slight smile from appearing on his face as he took in the woman before him. He had always admired the inner strength she had, and this moment just emphasized the thoughts in his mind. He knew she wasn't going to leave until the evidence had been collected, but he had to try. Taking a seat next to her he turned to her and whispered, "I'll always be here, Cath." Not being able to hold Catherine's hand, he reached around the seat to hold Lindsey's hand as the three silently sat and waited for help to arrive.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
After seemingly no time at all, Brass pulled up to the house, followed shortly by the rest of their team. Releasing his grip on Lindsey's hand, Gil stood up and opened the passenger door of the Tahoe. After helping Lindsey out of the car he walked her over to Brass's car, motioning for the man to join him.   
  
Kneeling before the girl he asked, "Lindsey, you remember Jim don't you?" At the girls nod he continued, "I want you to tell him everything that happened today okay. And then when your mother's ready we are going to take her to the hospital, just to make sure that everything is all right."  
  
Standing up he watched as Brass led the little girl a bit farther away so he could begin the questioning.  
  
Turning around he saw his team standing around Catherine, no one saying a word. He made his way back over, trying to decide who to assign to the tasks that needed to be done.  
  
"Catherine, who do you want to…" He prayed he wouldn't have to finish the question. Usually in these situations he had Catherine process the evidence from the victim but that wasn't an option this time.  
  
After a minute of silence they heard Catherine say "Warrick."   
  
With Catherine's request in mind Grissom sent Nick and Sara into the house to process Catherine's home.  
  
"Wait."  
  
At the sound of Catherine's voice everyone stopped and turned to her. "Start with my bedroom. That's where…. That's where you will find most of the evidence. Grissom's case is in there too, with some evidence already bagged. Concentrate on the bed and the closet, I know there are hairs in the bed. I ripped out a handful, and…"  
  
"Cath," Nick interrupted. "Don't worry, we'll take care of everything." Nick assured her. After seeing her nod of approval, he and Sara turned back to head into the house.  
  
"Cath, do you want to talk about what happened?" Warrick asked as he set down his case.  
  
"Not right now. I want to wait on Jim."   
  
She didn't need to say anymore. The two men knew she was wanting to tell the story as few times as possible and neither of them wanted to argue with her logic.  
  
"Warrick? Can you get these scrapings from under my nails first?" Catherine said as she slowly released the fingers she had clenched into a fist and had been protecting since leaving her home.   
  
Gathering the evidence from Catherine's nails, he looked to her to see what she wanted done next.  
  
"Gil's going to have transfers on him as well." She knew she was the one that wanted Warrick to do this, he was there when she was attacked a few months earlier so at least he's seen her in this state before. But it was still hard. It probably would have been easier if she had picked Ecklie's team, they didn't know her very well. But she also knew that their team was going to work twice as hard and she wanted to feel safe again as soon as possible.   
  
Everyone took their cue from Catherine and Gil stood up to allow Warrick easier access in processing the evidence from him. Once completed they turned back to Catherine.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay with this Catherine? I can always have Sara come back and…" Warrick began.  
  
"No. I'm fine."   
  
They both could see the steely resolve in her eyes and knew that she had buried her feelings for the time being.  
  
Warrick pulled out his camera and started taking pictures of Catherine's wounds.  
  
"Shit!"   
  
They both turned to Gil at his exclamation.  
  
"I forgot to take pictures inside." He muttered silently, cursing himself for his mistakes.  
  
"I'm sure Nick and Sara are taking care of that Gris." Warrick tried to assure his boss, even though he knew his words would do little to console the man. Not knowing what else to say, Warrick continued with the job at hand. Finishing the pictures he placed his camera back in his case and took out a pair of scissors.   
Kneeling before her, he examined the rope that still bound her ankles together, looking for the best place to cut the rope without destroying any potential evidence.   
  
Gil turned his attention back to Warrick and watched him with interest. 'How would she have been able to walk out of that room anyway? I can't believe I forgot to cut those ropes. What else did I screw up in there?' The doubts were starting to come into his mind faster now.  
  
"Gil." Catherine waited until she had his full attention. "It's okay, I forgot about the ropes too." She said with a sad smile on her face. She knew what he was thinking and didn't want him to doubt anything.  
  
Warrick placed the rope into an evidence bag and began scanning Catherine looking for hairs and other transfers she might have on her. After gathering that evidence, he determined that he was done with what he could do for now. "Cath, we need to get you to the hospital. I can get your, um, clothes there and one of the nurses can do the rape kit."  
  
"What?" Catherine's head popped up at Warrick's last sentence.  
  
"Well from the…"  
  
"Is that what everyone thinks?" Cath questioned as Jim came over to them.  
  
"Catherine, are you all right?" Jim asked when he saw the look on her face. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"  
  
"Warrick, do you mind going with Lindsey. I don't want her to be by herself right now. I'll send Brass over when we're done."   
  
"Sure Gil." Warrick replied, leaving his kit with the group at the Tahoe.  
  
Catherine watched Warrick as he greeted her daughter and then turned her attention back to the two remaining men. "Sure." She said simply, to Brass's earlier question, before beginning her story.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
To be continued… 


	4. chapter 4

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are 

the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful 

actors who portray them.

Author's Notes: Welcome to chapter 4. I promise this gets happier at some point, it has too right? Thanks to Lauri for betaing this for me. And thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing, I can't tell you how much it means to me… one of my greatest muses is getting a review. This chapter has one of my favorite writing tools in it, flashbacks. Hopefully it isn't to confusing where the flashbacks are. ****** denotes the beginning and end of the flashback. *~*~*~*~* indicates scene changes.

Spoilers: none really

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI… all others 

please ask.

Previously in "The Revolving Door"

Catherine watched Warrick as he greeted her daughter and then turned her attention back to the two remaining men. "Sure." She said simply, to Brass's earlier question, before beginning her story.

… and now Chapter 4

*~*~*~*~*

"Well, it was just like most mornings. I got home a little later then usual, I ran a couple of errands before coming home. I didn't notice anything… different."

Catherine looked up and saw that Gil and Brass were both staring intently at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. Taking a deep breath she continued her story…

* * * * * * 

Catherine walked into the house kicking the door shut behind her, and placed her keys on the entry table, juggling the three bags of groceries she carried with her. Walking into the kitchen, she set the bags onto the counter and began putting the groceries away. 

'How can one little girl eat so much…" she muttered to herself. 

With that task done she looked around the kitchen trying to decide what to make for breakfast. Not seeing anything that looked very appetizing she decided to forego food for the time being and take a quick shower before heading to bed. 

Catherine stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel tightly around her before heading into her bedroom. Reaching the dresser she pulled out her favorite pajamas, which consisted of a pale pink tank top and shorts, not really pajamas but as close as she usually got. She quickly got dressed and grabbed the bottle of tulip scented lotion next to her bed. Gil kept trying to get her to stop using scented lotion, but she had plenty of time before work for the scent to wear off, and there were some things a girl just couldn't give up, no matter what her job. After rubbing an ample amount of lotion into her body, she set the bottle back on the bedside table and crawled into bed letting sleep over come her.

* * * * * * 

Catherine tried to blink the tears back as she looked up and made eye contact with the two men in front of her. She knew the hardest part of her story was coming, but she needed to make sure….

"Gil, are you sure …?"

"I'm fine Cath. Don't worry about me. You are doing great, just continue…. Please." Gil hated that she was thinking about him at a time like this, but he didn't expect anything else. Gil took a step forward and offered a hand to Catherine, now that they had both been processed he could offer his support and this was the most he could do at the moment. 

Catherine reached out to take Gil's hand and felt the soft smile come to her face as she experienced the slight squeeze as he took her hand. Knowing that Gil was supporting her, she continued with what she knew would be the hardest part of her story.

* * * * * * * *

Catherine quickly sat up in bed, trying to figure out what could have startled her. The room was fairly dark, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. She had invested in some heavy duty blinds back when she used to dance, and they were one of the few things from that time in her life that she had kept around.

Looking around the room, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. After deciding that the case from last night must really be getting to her, she slowly began to lay back down. That's when she heard the noise again.

Her heart began pounding when she came to the realization that it was not her imagination. 

She reached over to turn on the bedside lamp, but never made it that far. A scream erupted from her mouth when she felt a body jump onto the bed and land on top of her. Catherine began screaming even louder and started swinging her arms and kicking at the unidentified form on top of her.

A hand quickly closed down on her mouth in an effort to quiet her.

"OK Catherine, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours, either way I'm going to have a good time." 

Catherine felt the body press harder into hers and instantly knew it was male. Her mind began racing as she thought of ways to get out of her current situation. She quickly brought her hands to the mans face and scratched as hard as she could.

The next thing she realized her head had whipped to the right and she could feel the heat radiating off her temple. She softly shook her head trying to clear the stars out of her vision, but she knew it wouldn't work.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Catherine pleaded, still unable to fathom what was going on.

"You don't need to know who we are. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy."

Catherine shivered as she heard the voice whisper in her ear, he was close enough that she could feel his lips grazing her ear. Her mind began racing at the word "we." With only one assailant she knew she at least had a chance to get away, but now she didn't know exactly how many were in her house, and she still wasn't sure what exactly they wanted. 

Catherine gave up hope and stopped fighting, hoping that she would at least get away with her life, when it was all over. She felt a tongue slither along her neck and couldn't help the nauseous feeling, and then his hands began groping her. She couldn't just stay still and accept what was happening, even if it did cost her life, at least those who knew her would know she never gave up. Just as Catherine was starting to decide what she was going to do, she heard a woman's voice at the door.

"What do you think you are doing?"

At the sound of the voice, the man quickly raised up on his hands, keeping Catherine firmly pinned under the weight of his body. "I wasn't doin' nothing'! Catherine and I were just having a little bit of fun, weren't we, Baby." 

"Just tie her up and help me find the stuff. You know you aren't supposed to touch her. We were specifically told not to harm the brat's mother."

Catherine was torn with her emotions. She was furious that the woman called her daughter a brat, but was thankful she had interrupted the man before he could do any serious damage to her. 

The door slammed shut again and Catherine felt the weight lift off of her body and flip her onto her stomach before she had a chance to react. Her hands were roughly pulled behind her back and she felt a twine rope wrap around her wrists. The man then made a move to grab her ankles, but only felt a sharp pain as Catherine took advantage and sharply kicked at the man.

She continued kicking at the man, making contact a few times, until she felt a hand wrap around her right ankle and twist. The pain was enough to cause her to stop the kicking long enough for the man to get a hold of her left ankle and bind them together as well. Her legs were pressed backwards towards her wrists, and she felt her back automatically arch, trying in vain to relieve the pain and discomfort this unnatural position was causing. The man removed his hands, but Catherine found she still wasn't able to straighten out. That's when she realized that he had bound her wrists and ankles together, making it almost impossible for her to even move. Catherine was about to say something when she heard a quick rip and felt what had to be duct tape being pressed against her mouth. Catherine refused to let the tears fall from her eyes as she felt the additional weight removed from the bed.

She heard the footsteps walking back and forth in front of the bed before they finally stopped, seeming to be farther away. Another sound, but this time she wasn't sure exactly what it was, then the footsteps moved back towards her. 

If she could have screamed, she would have. Catherine felt herself being lifted off of the bed by the rope tying her wrists and ankles together. She could feel the blood trickling down her arms and legs as the weight of her body caused the ropes to cut into her skin. Even disoriented, Catherine could tell she was being moved towards her closet. She felt her head slam into the door before she was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor and the door was slammed shut. 

* * * * * * 

"I waited a few minutes until I heard the footsteps fade away. I somehow managed to turn onto my side, must still be fairly limber from my dancing days." Catherine said with a slight smile before continuing. "I tried to get the ropes loose but they just kept cutting into my skin. After a little while the noises stopped and I heard the front door slam, and then it was quiet. By that time I knew there was no way I was getting free without help, so I just stayed there until Gil opened the door."

As Catherine finished her story, she finally looked up from the hand she was holding and made eye contact with the two men standing in front of her. She could read the pain in their eyes, and hated the fact that she was the one who put it there. She squeezed Gil's hand until she got a reaction from him. She stared at him until the pain disappeared from his eyes. She knew it wasn't gone, but hidden again in the recesses of his mind.

"Catherine?" Brass questioned. "What was it they were looking for?"

"They never said. I don't have any idea what they wanted."

"Can you give me a description?" Brass hated having to do this, but he needed something to work with. And he knew that Catherine wouldn't leave without telling him everything she could. 

"I never got a look at him, the room was too dark." She closed her eyes to think before continuing. "He has a muscular, toned body, like he works out or something. He was taller than me, but I'm not sure exactly how tall, my feet hit him somewhere between the knees and ankles but I'm not sure where. There should be evidence of hair color on the bed, Nick and Sara could tell you that. He should have claw marks on his face, both sides, I got him good. He smells like…" Catherine pauses and inhales deeply as if she's still trying to smell it. "He smells like a mixture of cheap beer, marijuana and cheap cologne." Catherine opened her eyes as she finished her description. "I can't tell you anything about the woman. Light footsteps, so she must be fairly thin. I think I'd recognize her voice if I heard it, but I'm not sure. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry Cath. You did great." Gil told her, and placed his hand under her chin raising her face to look at his. "Let's get you to the hospital now ok?" He didn't wait for her to respond, he had held out as long as he could. Releasing Catherine's hands he gently picked her up and motioned to Brass to open the front door for him. 

"Brass? Can you go get Lindsey for me? I told her she could go to the hospital with us." Gil asked after he got Catherine settled in the front seat. He watch as Brass wordlessly walked away to where the little girl was waiting with Warrick. 

"Gil?"

He turned at the sound of Catherine's voice.

"What did Lindsey say?" At the look on Gil's face she clarified her question. "In the house on the phone, you wouldn't tell me what she said earlier. What did she say?"

"She said she loves you and she hopes you're okay." He told her.

The tears began falling in earnest now and she no longer cared to hold them back. 

Gil was about to say something when he saw Brass returning with Lindsey, and Warrick trailing behind. Silently cursing to himself, he shut the door to give Catherine a bit of privacy. He reached out to take Lindsey's hand, and was shocked when she jumped into his arms. Holding the girl close to him, he silently placed her in the back of the Tahoe and shut the door.

He turned back to Warrick and Brass but was interrupted before he could say anything.

"Don't worry Gris. We'll take care of everything here. Just get Catherine to the hospital and make sure she's okay. Let us know how everything goes." Warrick told him and then picked up his kit and walked towards the house, ready to get to work. 

Brass didn't say anything, just nodded in agreement and followed Warrick to the house.

Gil watched his two friends walk away and then made his way around the Tahoe to the drivers seat. For once he had something more important to do then analyze the crime scene. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

To be continue…


	5. chapter 5

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. The song used in this chapter is "I'll Stand By You" by The Pretenders, this doesn't belong to me either, unfortunately.

Author's Notes: Welcome to chapter 4. I promise this gets happier at some point, it has too right? Thanks to Lauri for looking at this for me. And thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing, I can't tell you how much it means to me… one of my greatest muses is getting a review. Sorry for keeping everyone waiting for this, this chapter was not wanting to be written.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: none really

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI… all others 

please ask.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Previously in "The Revolving Door"

"Don't worry Gris. We'll take care of everything here. Just get Catherine to the hospital and make sure she's okay. Let us know how everything goes." Warrick told him and then picked up his kit and walked towards the house, ready to get to work. 

Brass didn't say anything, just nodded in agreement and followed Warrick to the house.

Gil watched his two friends walk away and then made his way around the Tahoe to the drivers seat. For once he had something more important to do then analyze the crime scene. 

And now… part 5

*~*~*~*~*~*

~~~

Oh, why you look so sad?   
Tears are in your eyes 

Come on and come to me now   
~~~

The drive to the hospital was short and silent. Gil didn't want to talk to Catherine about what had happened, and he didn't have the energy in him to try and talk to Lindsey right now. So he remained silent, locked in his thoughts about everything that had happened that day. 

He pulled to a screeching stop at the ER entrance and quickly made his way around the vehicle to Catherine. Opening the door he stopped at the look on Catherine's face.

"What?"

"Please park the car in the parking lot," her soft voice was pleading with him. "This isn't an emergency. I'm okay."

"Catherine, please. Don't fight me on this. I'll move the Tahoe once I get you seen by a doctor. Please." He wasn't beyond begging at this point, he had let Catherine stay at the scene longer then he wanted, and now that he had her here all he could focus on was making her pain disappear. 

When she remained silent Gil knew he had won this battle. Lifting Catherine into his arms, he motioned for Lindsey to get out of the car and follow them. Gil carefully walked into the Desert Springs emergency room. He was desperately trying not to cause anymore pain to Catherine, even though her small moans told him he was unsuccessful. 

His appearance into the emergency room was met with a rush of commotion. A gurney was quickly brought to his side and a cluster of people helped him place Catherine onto the gurney.

"Sir, can you tell us what happened?"

Gil stood shock still as he watched the staff begin to assess Catherine. He looked down when he felt the pressure on his waist, and discovered that in all of the commotion Lindsey had wrapped her arms around Gil and had buried her head in his side.

At Gil's non answer, the staff moved Catherine to the back of the ER, as Gil stood watching Catherine being taken away from him. He could see that they were now aiming their questions at Catherine.

"Sir?"

Gil focused his eyes on the face that had found it's way in front of him.

"Sir? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? We can have someone look at you and your daughter, there's quite a bit of blood…"

"It's not my blood." Gil answered, ignoring the assumption the nurse had made.

"Why don't you come with me over to the desk. We need to get some information from you so we can help your wife." The nurse placed her hand on Gil's back and led him away from the doors, and towards a computer set up near the nurses station. 

Gil pried Lindsey's grip from his stomach and lifted her into his arms before taking the seat he was shown. Once Lindsey had settled into his lap, he took the paperwork and pen that was handed to him.

"Sir, before you start filling out the paperwork, can you try and give me a little information about what happened?"

Gil looked at Lindsey before quickly repeating Catherine's story to the nurse, leaving out some of the more graphic details that Catherine had told them. Seeing that he had given the nurse sufficient details, to help expedite Catherine's treatment, Gil returned to the paperwork in his hand. After about fifteen minutes, Gil was surprised to find out that he was finished with the form, and except for a couple of places regarding some childhood diseases he was able to fill out the form by himself.

Handing the form back to one of the nurses at the desk, he asked the question that had been on his mind since he began filling out the forms. "Can you find out how Cath is doing?"

"I'll see what I can find out Mr. Grissom," The nurse replied as she looked at the form. "Why don't you take a seat in the waiting room, and I'll let you know as soon as I hear something?"

Gil stood, with Lindsey still in his arms, and reluctantly left the nurses station. His head involuntarily turning towards the room he had seen Catherine taken into.

~~~

Don't be ashamed to cry   
Let me see you through   
'Cause I've seen the dark side too 

~~~

"Uncle Gil?"

Gil turned his head, as the small voice brought him out of his daze. "What is it sweetie?" 

"Are you sure Mommy's going to be all right. She's been gone a really long time, and no one has told us anything. I want to go see her." She had been successful in holding back her tears until her last words.

"I'm sure she'll be fine Lindsey. As soon as they make sure everything is perfect they'll let us in to see her."

"How can you be sure?" The doubt in her voice made her sound so much older then her young years.

"Trust me Lindsey. Your mom is going to be just fine."

Before he could say anything more a doctor walked into the room and made her way over the two of them.

"Mr. Willows?" The doctor inquired after looking down at the piece of paper in front of her.

This brought a chuckle out of Lindsey that was quickly stopped as Gil shot her a look, before standing to shake hands with the doctor.

"I'm Gil Grissom. I'm the one who brought Catherine in."

"I'm sorry Mr. Grissom, I was under the impression that you two were…"

"I know." Gil interrupted, hoping to get to the point as soon as possible. "Please … how is Catherine."

"I'm sorry sir. I can only reveal that information to immediate family members."

"I…" Gil stopped at the sound of a small voice.

"Is my Mommy going to be all right?"

The two adults turned to look at Lindsey.

At the sight of the tears developing in Lindsey's eyes again, Gil knelt down and picked Lindsey up into his embrace. He tried in vain to halt Lindsey's tears and turned to the doctor with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Please Doctor…" Gil paused and looked at the name tag on the jacket before continuing. "Dr. Jackson. Just tell me that she's going to be all right." 

Dr. Jackson looked at the man and child in front of her and knew she couldn't keep the information from them. It was clear to her that even if they were not husband and wife, the three were clearly a family. "Sit down, Mr. Grissom." She pulled a chair over and took a seat in front of the now seated man and child.

"Ms. Willows is going to be fine." She could see the immediate relief in their eyes, as she contemplated her next words. Trying not to get into any graphic or over complicated details, she continued with a version of the injuries that she hoped the child could understand. "Ms. Willows suffered multiple rib fractures on both sides. The x-rays were clear, and although they will be painful, they should heal properly. There was a deep laceration above her right eye, that took several sutures to close. Her left wrist was sprained, and her right ankle is broken. This may cause some problems. She is going to have difficulty ambulating with the multiple fractures, you may want to consider obtaining a wheelchair." Dr. Jackson looked up and saw the overwhelmed look on the faces in front of her. "I know this sounds like a lot, but everything should be fine. She's a strong woman, and appears to be in remarkable health. I'm sure she will be back to normal soon. Mr. Grissom?" She waited until she has his complete attention. "Perhaps the two of us can talk a bit more in depth?"

Catching the doctors meaning, Gil quickly shook his head in the negative and tightened his grip on the young girl in his arms. "I can't leave Lindsey by herself. Can I talk to you a bit later? Maybe…" Gil stopped as he saw Warrick enter the room. "Warrick? What are you doing here? Why aren't you back at…"

"Gris," Warrick interrupted, hoping he would be able to get a word in before Grissom became any more upset. He quickly walked across the room and lifted Lindsey out of Gil's arms. "I'm not staying for long. We just thought that maybe you might need someone to stay with Lindsey for a while."

Gil reluctantly made eye contact with Warrick, as he realized that his team had came to the same conclusion that he was only now coming too. "Thanks. I didn't think that far ahead."

"It's all right. Go. I'll wait here until you are able to leave. Maybe Lindsey and I can go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat? What do you think about that Lindsey?"

At Lindsey's reluctant nod, Warrick walked out of the waiting room with Lindsey, leaving Gil and the doctor alone.

~~~

When the night falls on you   
You don't know what to do   
Nothing you confess   
Could make me love you less 

~~~

The silence in the room was awkward. Neither of the occupants knew how to start the conversation back up. Looking at the man in front of her, Dr. Jackson decided to jump back into the conversation where she had left off.

"What I said earlier was true. For the most part, she has basically suffered minor injuries. We did notice some bruising and lacerations on her inner thighs. We attempted to run a rape kit, but Ms. Willows informed us that it wasn't necessary, penetration was never accomplished. We did recover seminal fluid from her clothing though."

"What!" Gil was shocked out of his current state of mind. Catherine had never mentioned that possibility when she told him and Brass the events of her afternoon. 

"Ms. Willows had us bag the clothing. We will contact the police department to transport it to their labs. There are what appear to be rope burns on her extremities. Was she tied to something when you found her?" She waited a moment for Mr. Grissom to answer her question. "Mr. Grissom?" she questioned softly when he failed to answer her.

"I'm sorry. I was just… um…. yeah. She was bound. Not to anything, but her limbs were tied together. Are you sure that everything is…"

"I'm positive Mr. Grissom." Dr. Jackson said with a smile. "I am a bit concerned about the burns though. The ones on her right wrist and left ankle should heal nicely, she will have a topical to apply that will help with those injuries. But I'm worried about the possibility of infection from her other extremities, we had to set the fracture of her right ankle and were not able to set the cast below the injury. The burn on the left wrist seems to be the most serious. There was an extensive loss of skin on that site, and the wound is pretty raw." She stopped and took in the look on the man's face. He seemed to be overwhelmed at the moment, and definitely appeared to need a bit of a break from the news she had just given him. "Would you like to go and see her?"

Gil quickly stood, he was thankful the doctor had finally agreed to talk to him, but right now he only had one thing on his mind, and he needed to see, for himself, that Catherine was all right.

"I do need to warn you," she continued as she stood up. "There are several bruises on her face, and the area around the laceration is currently quite swollen. The swelling will go down, and eventually the bruises will go away, but she isn't going to look like herself for a while. Some woman have a very hard time with this, and those who suffer from attempted rapes, often go through the same emotional problems as those who are actually raped. If you'd like, I can have a social worker talk to the two of you in a few minutes. She can give you more information and the names of some support groups." 

"I need to see Catherine first. I have to see how she is, please," Gil couldn't keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Of course, Mr. Grissom. Follow me." Dr. Jackson left the room, with Gil following close behind her. She stopped when she reached a closed off room towards the back of the emergency department. "Let me go and make sure she's ready for visitors. I'll be just a minute."

Gil watched as she stepped into the room. After what seemed like hours, but had to have been minutes, the doctor reappeared and motioned Gil into the room.

~~~

I'll stand by you   
I'll stand by you   
Won't let nobody hurt you   
I'll stand by you 

~~~

Gil slowly made his way into the room, terrified of what he might see in front of him. Looking up, he bit back the gasp that wanted to leave his body at the sight of Catherine. He had hoped that the doctor had over-exaggerated Catherine injuries, even though in his mind he knew that wouldn't be a possibility. He had seen worse injuries, it was impossible not to have in their line of work, but this was Catherine… not some anonymous stranger he had never met. Gil quickly walked across the room and reached for Catherine's right hand, gently grasping it within his larger hands.

"Catherine, how are you feeling?"

"Do I really look that bad? I'm not going to scare Lindsey am I?" Catherine avoided his question, and instead commented on the look she had seen when he first entered the room.

"Lindsey is going to be glad you are all right. And the bruises and lacerations…" Gil continued as he moved one of his hands from Catherine's and raised it to her face, softly touching her chin and waited for her eyes to meet his. "They will heal, don't worry about that, you're still beautiful and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Catherine could feel herself getting lost in Gil's eyes, and she quickly averted her gaze before she lost control of her emotions. "Where's Lindsey?"

"Warrick took her to the cafeteria, hopefully he's getting her some supper, and not filling her up with ice cream." Gil moved his hands from Catherine's body and turned to find a chair. Pulling the chair closer to Catherine's bed, he sat down and resumed his position of holding her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"How do you think I'm feeling?" She couldn't help the sarcasm that had crept into her voice. Looking over at Gil she immediately regretted her choice if words. "I'm sorry, I…"

"It's all right, Cath. Stupid question on my part. I should have realized that…"

"How could you realize?" Catherine interrupted Gil, before he could continue. "I don't really know how I'm feeling at the moment. I think they gave me morphine, but I don't really remember. Did the doctor tell you when we could leave?"

"She didn't say anything about keeping you here. Do you want me to find out?" He said, standing to leave the room.

"No!" The word came out of Catherine's lips louder then she had intended, and she blushed at the realization. "I'm sure someone will be in here soon. Will you just wait with me?"

Gil quickly returned to his previous position. "Of course I will."

The two sat in companionable silence, neither knew what to say, but they also didn't feel the need to say anything. Just the presence of the other was enough for the time being.

"Excuse me, am I interrupting anything?"

Two pairs of blue eyes turned towards the doorway, simultaneously, and saw Dr. Jackson enter the room.

"I just wanted to go over some discharge instructions with the two of you. I do trust that Mr. Grissom here is going to accompany you upon your discharge correct?"

"Correct." Gil stated before Catherine had a chance to say anything.

"Good. Because her discharge is contingent on someone being there for her." The doctor directed her next statement directly at Catherine. "You are going to have difficulties ambulating for a while. Between the combination of the broken ribs and ankle and the sprained wrist, you are going to have to get used to functioning with the various braces and casts. Normally I would want to admit you to monitor the rib fractures, but I'm making an exception in your case, so don't prove me wrong. No strenuous activity, no lifting… which you shouldn't do with that wrist anyway. Those ribs are going to be painful and there isn't much I can do about that, and from the look of your x-rays you have a first hand knowledge of that. Make sure you remove the splint from you wrist four times a day and apply the lotion as prescribed to all of the exposed rope burns. You'll need to see Dr. Pierce in a few weeks for your ankle fracture. Don't get the cast wet. And don't get the stitches wet. You can see your family physician in a few weeks, and he can remove the stitches for you, or I'm sure Dr. Pierce can remove them when you see him about your ankle." The doctor paused to give the couple in front of her a chance to comprehend everything she had just told them. "The social worker is compiling a list of some rape counselors for you, Ms. Willows. I know you weren't raped, but often those who have rapes attempted on them react as if they were raped. I just want you to be prepared for some of the emotions you may discover, it is perfectly normal, so don't think otherwise. Do you have any questions for me?"

Gil and Catherine were quiet for a moment as they thought about everything the doctor had just presented them. Finally Gil spoke up. "You mentioned something earlier about a wheel chair?"

"Yes. I don't want additional strain on those rib fractures. After your cast is changed to a walking cast you should be all right without the wheel chair, until then I want you to rest. That also means no work, at least not for the next week. After a week, you can return to desk duty… nothing strenuous. There will be a list of instructions the nurse will give you. I'll send the nurse in with the instructions and your prescriptions. I'm going to have the nurse administer another dose of morphine before you leave as well, that should help keep you comfortable for a little while. The nurse should be in soon, and then you can leave," Dr. Jackson finished and left the room.

They watched the doctor leave and saw the nurse immediately enter the room. "Mr. Grissom, if you could leave for a minute…"

"Please let him stay," Catherine interrupted, tightening her grip on Gil's hand. 

"Catherine, are you sure? I brought some clothes for you, if you would rather have Mr. Grissom help you I can step out for a few minutes."

They were both quiet for a minute, neither sure what the other wanted. Gil decided to let Catherine make the final decision.

"Why don't you go and get Lindsey? I want to see my daughter, and by the time you find her maybe I'll be ready to leave."

Gil agreed and placed a delicate kiss on Catherine's hand before rising and leaving the room.

*~*~*~*~*

Gil made his way to the cafeteria and immediately spotted Lindsey and Warrick in a booth near the back. He walked towards them and took a seat next to Lindsey. 

"Are you about finished with your supper, Lindsey? Your mom should be ready to leave soon."

"Is she all right, Uncle Gil?"

"Of course she is sweetheart. The doctors wouldn't let her go home if she wasn't all right, now would they," Gil told Lindsey. "Lindsey, I want you to be prepared when you see her okay. She has a lot of bruises on her face, and there is a big cut above her eye. It doesn't look very nice right now, but it will be fine in a week or so."

"I understand. Where are we going to go though? Our house looked pretty messy," Lindsey said with a small amount of fright in her voice.

"I'm taking you two to my house until Catherine is better," Gil said, and turned and saw shock on Warrick's face. "I bet Uncle Warrick will go back to your house when we leave and gather some of things for you and Catherine."

"You have to get my pink shirt, Uncle Warrick. I need to wear it to school tomorrow, okay. And…" Lindsey stopped talking as Warrick interrupted her.

"I'll make sure I grab your shirt, Lindsey, and then you can make a list of the other things you need. Why don't we go and see your mom now, I bet she's ready to leave." Warrick stood and waited for Gil and Lindsey to get out of the booth.

*~*~*~*~*

Gil, Lindsey and Warrick returned to the ER in time to see Catherine being wheeled out of the room she had been treated in. 

"Mom!" Lindsey yelled, as she ran across the busy room and came to a screeching halt in front of her mother. 

"Lindsey, don't run inside. You could have hurt someone," Catherine scolded her daughter lightly.

"You are definitely all right, Mom," Lindsey stopped and took in her mother's appearance. "They are letting you leave right?"

"That's right," Catherine answered.

"Good. When do we get to leave?" 

"As soon as Gil can get the car for us," Catherine looked up and saw Gil and Warrick standing in front of her. "Gil, can we leave now, please."

Nodding his head in agreement, Gil handed his car keys to Warrick. "Warrick, can you and Lindsey go and move my car for us?" 

Gil waited until Warrick and Lindsey had left and then moved closer to Catherine and reached out to take her hand. "Let's go home," he said softly, before moving behind her to push Catherine to the waiting vehicle.

*~*~*~*~*

To be continued…


	6. chapter 6

Title The Revolving Door  
  
Author Angie  
  
Email hill@grics.net  
  
Disclaimers CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.   
  
Author's Notes Welcome to chapter 6. And I thought that last chapter didn't want to be written. This has been a long time in the making. I'm not going to make excuses for why this chapter took so long, does anyone really care? -) And I'm not going to say when the next chapter will be posted, though I will say that I will really try to get it out faster then this chapter. This is a transitional chapter, so I'm not entirely sure what I think of it but it's necessary to continue with the story.   
  
For those new to the lists, the first 5 chapters of this fic can be found at http//www.geocities.com/graveshiftcsi , as well as all of my other fics, and numerous fics by other G/C authors, I highly recommend it.  
  
I really must thank Laeta and Allie for betaing this for me, and basically convincing me that it doesn't suck. -) And lots of thanks to everyone who nominated me in the CGAwards (http//www.pink-martini.net/cgawards/) And words can not express the shock when I actually placed in one of the categories, (http//www.pink-martini.net/cgawards/winners.html) many thanks to everyone, who voted and nominated anyone in these, I'm just glad they were a success. Thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed anything I've ever written, feedback is wonderful for a writer's imagination and when I'm really letting the writer's block get to me nothing makes me get back in the mood more then going back and reading old reviews.   
  
Rating PG-13  
  
Spoilers none really, though anything through the end of season 3 is in fair play.  
  
Distribution The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI… all others   
  
please ask.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Previously in "The Revolving Door"  
  
"You are definitely all right, Mom," Lindsey stopped and took in her mother's appearance. "They are letting you leave right?"  
  
"That's right," Catherine answered.  
  
"Good. When do we get to leave?"   
  
"As soon as Gil can get the car for us," Catherine looked up and saw Gil and Warrick standing in front of her. "Gil, can we leave now, please."  
  
Nodding his head in agreement, Gil handed his car keys to Warrick. "Warrick, can you and Lindsey go and move my car for us?"   
  
Gil waited until Warrick and Lindsey had left and then moved closer to Catherine and reached out to take her hand. "Let's go home," he said softly, before moving behind her to push Catherine to the waiting vehicle.  
  
And now... Chapter 6  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Catherine's mind fully focused on the scenery they were passing for the first time since leaving the hospital. "Gil? This isn't the way to my house."   
  
"I know."  
  
"Isn't this the way to…"  
  
"My house. It is. You and Lindsey are going to stay with me for a while." He turned his face slightly to see the expression on Catherine's face. "I know you…"  
  
"Thank you," she whispered. "For everything today. I don't know what…"  
  
"You don't need to thank me, Cath," Gil interrupted and reached across the space to grasp her hand in his. "I'll always be here for you."  
  
The two remained in companionable silence for the rest of the trip to Gil's house. Pulling into the driveway, Gil reluctantly released Catherine's hand from his own and put the vehicle into park. "Will you be all right out here for a minute? I need to get the door opened before…"  
  
"I can walk on my own," Catherine replied indignantly.  
  
Rather then argue with her, Gil decided to wait until Lindsey was out of ear shot. "Wait until I get around the car, I don't want you trying anything without some help." He quickly exited the vehicle and made his way to the passenger side. Opening the back door for Lindsey, he handed her his set of keys. "Lindsey, can you run up to the door and get it opened for us? The key with the blue grip on it is the house key." After watching Lindsey run up to the front door and get it opened, he turned to Catherine, who had opened the Tahoe door by this point. "So which of the Doctor's instructions didn't you understand?" Gil said with a smile. "No walking on that cast, remember? So you get two options, wait here and let me get the wheelchair from the back. Or I can carry you. Your choice."  
  
After a minute of running the choices through her mind, Catherine finally answered. "Better get the wheelchair. I'm not sure my ribs will appreciate you carrying me that far."  
  
"Good choice. Just give me a minute to get the chair out of the back." Gil went to the driver's side and popped the hatch for the back gate, before making his way to the end of the Tahoe. He quickly made his way to the back of the vehicle, while keeping an eye on Catherine, to be sure she remained seated. Lifting the back gate, Gil retrieved the wheelchair and slammed the gate down, before continuing his journey around the vehicle to Catherine. Gil opened the wheelchair and set the brakes before turning his attention to Catherine. "How do you want to do this?" He asked, trying to make things as easy for her as possible,  
  
Catherine sat in silence for a bit while thinking of an answer. Looking down she finally made her decision, "I'm not sure I can…"  
  
"It's all right, Cath," Gil interrupted. "Hey, look at me." Gil patiently waited for Catherine to raise her gaze before moving his finger to her chin and lifting her head up. "That's better." He couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face, just from looking into Catherine's eyes. "Don't be embarrassed. Things are going to get easier, this all just too new right now. Let me give you a hand, and hopefully we can make this as pain free as possible." Reaching out Gil placed his hands on Catherine's hips to help her turn sideways in the seat. He paused for a minute looking at Catherine and the wheelchair. "I'm not sure how to do this, Cath," he whispered. "Is that morphine shot still in effect? I don't think we are going to get you into the house without having to place some pressure on those ribs."  
  
"I'll be all right. I just need to get settled before the shot completely wears off. Kneel down a little, will you?" Catherine waited until Gil complied with her request. Reaching up with her good arm, Catherine grasped onto Gil's shoulder. "Can you hold my leg for me? Then I can slide down, and should be able to pivot into the chair. How does that sound?"  
  
Gil didn't give Catherine's request a second thought, he just complied with her wishes. The two followed Catherine's plan and she settled herself into the chair as comfortably as possible. He began pushing Catherine to the front of his townhouse when he came upon another obstacle, the staircase. Turning the wheelchair around, Gil backed Catherine's wheelchair up to the stairs and began to pull upward when he heard Catherine's voice.  
  
"Stop! Gil, you're going to hurt yourself."  
  
"Catherine, the weight of you and this wheelchair combined is probably less then 150 pounds. I promise I'm not going to hurt myself, and I'm not going to lose grip on the wheelchair either. It's only two steps up."   
  
Catherine remained silent for a minute before giving her reluctant permission. "Just be careful, Gil. I don't think Lindsey will be able to take care of both of us."  
  
Gil chuckled a little and resumed his previous actions. Bending slightly, he took hold of the wheelchair and tipped the seat back slightly before pulling up. He quickly got Catherine onto the landing and pulled the wheelchair the rest of the way into the townhouse, joining Lindsey in the living room. Gil stopped Catherine next to the coffee table and walked around the wheelchair to take a seat on the couch, leaving her seated in the chair.  
  
The two adults sat in silence for a few moments, until their collective thoughts were interrupted by the other occupant of the room.  
  
"Mom?" Lindsey's voice carried from across the room.  
  
Catherine turned attention to Lindsey, and took in the frightened features on her child's face. "Come here, baby," she said as she motioned for Lindsey to sit with the two adults.  
  
Lindsey crossed the room and stopped between the two adults, unsure of where exactly to go.  
  
Sensing her indecision, Gil reached for Lindsey, pulling her into his lap. Once she was settled he wrapped an arm around her waist and reached out with his other arm to grasp Catherine's hand.  
  
"Does that cut hurt?" Lindsey asked as she pointed to the cut on her mother's head.  
  
"No," Catherine answered truthfully. "The doctor had the nurse give me a shot before we left, so I'm not in much pain right now."  
  
"Then where do you hurt?" She questioned, immediately picking up on the fact that her mother didn't say that she was pain free.  
  
Catherine wanted nothing more then to deny the pain she was feeling. But she knew she couldn't hide the fact from her daughter, and she didn't want to keep anything more from her then was necessary. "Well my ribs hurt a little, but it isn't too bad. They're just making me a bit uncomfortable."  
  
"Well if your ribs are broken, why didn't they put a cast on them like they did your ankle?"  
  
Catherine glanced at Gil before looking back at Lindsey, to answer her question. "Well, they can't really put a cast on broken ribs since you can't get to just the ones that are broken, so they put an Ace bandage on it, like the one you had on your wrist last year when you sprained it."  
  
"Can I see?" Lindsey asked as she wiggled out of Gil's lap and stood closer to her mother.   
  
Catherine nodded and slowly crossed her right arm across her abdomen to grasp the bottom hem of the t-shirt the nurse had given her to wear. Lifting her arm slowly, she raised the shirt up a little so Lindsey could see the bandage. Catherine watched as Lindsey brought her hand up to make contact with what she was seeing. Holding still, she let Lindsey touch the bandage and examine her up close for a few minutes before she adjusted her focus to Gil and lowered her shirt back down.  
  
Lindsey stood before her mother for a little longer, after Catherine had lowered her shirt, before stepping back into Gil's awaiting arms and allowing him to pull her back into his lap. "Who did this to you?"  
  
This was the question that Catherine had feared. She knew the answer could very well cause her daughter to become irrationally frightened of every stranger she met, but she also knew that Lindsey had a right to know. "I don't know, honey. I was asleep when it started, and you know how dark my room is when I'm sleeping." Catherine left the answer there and hoped that would satisfy the curious girl for the time being.  
  
Gil watched as Lindsey twisted in his lap and looked her in the eyes waiting for her question. After a moment of silence he decided to give her a prompt. "It's all right Lindsey, you can ask me whatever you want."  
  
"Are you going to catch the bad guy?"  
  
"Yes," he replied without hesitation or an ounce of doubt in his voice. He was going to do what ever it took to make sure that Catherine's attacker was caught and nothing was going to deter him of his goal.  
  
"What Gil means is that he is going to try as hard as he can…"  
  
"I meant what I said, Catherine," Gil interrupted and raised his head to look Catherine in the eyes. "Don't doubt me, I will catch the…the person that did this to you." He had to stop himself from saying exactly what he thought of the person who harmed Catherine but couldn't keep the anger out of his eyes.  
  
Reaching out, Catherine waited until she felt Gil's hand enclosing her own. She could feel the tension easing from his body as their contact lengthened. Just as she was about to speak, the sound of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts. They released their grips on each other, momentarily, as Lindsey left to answer the door.   
  
Minutes later, Warrick was ushered into the room by a smiling Lindsey. Gil quickly made his way to Warrick when he noticed the numerous packages he was laden with.   
  
"I thought you were picking up a pink shirt and a few things…are you sure the kitchen sink isn't in here too?" Gil asked as he took a couple bags from Warrick and placed them on the table.  
  
"I wasn't sure what to bring. And I knew you wouldn't have some of the basic necessities that most women want. So I went a bit overboard. But I did bring you some supper, so no one will have to worry about cooking tonight. I just need to run out to the car and get it, couldn't get everything in one trip." Warrick placed the rest of the packages on the table. He turned to head back out the door when he heard Gil's voice.  
  
"Do you need some help, or can you get the rest in one trip?"  
  
Seeing the look on his boss's face, Warrick reluctantly admitted that he would need some help and the two men left to retrieve the rest of the belongings. They returned a few minutes later with many more bags in their hands.   
  
"How much stuff did you bring, Warrick?" Catherine asked, as her eyes bulged at the site of the numerous bags each man carried.  
  
Warrick smiled when he saw the smirk on Catherine's face, the look the entire crew had all grown to love. "I know you, Cath. How could I have not brought your make-up and hair dryer. Not to mention clothes for Lindsey, and some video tapes, a couple of books, and maybe a couple of different clothing changes for you as well." Warrick put down the bags and went to Catherine, unlocking the brakes on her wheelchair before pushing her into Gil's kitchen and getting her settled at the table. "I know the medicine they've given you probably isn't doing much for your appetite. But you need to eat something. I stopped by Capriotti's and picked up some of that potato soup you love so much. And got a turkey sub for the rest of us." At the look on Catherine's face he added, "there is plenty for you, it you think you can handle the sandwich."  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Lindsey, it's time for you to start getting ready for bed." Catherine said as she set down her spoon. She wasn't able to finish much of the soup, but she had to admit that what she was able to eat tasted wonderful. She looked at Warrick and smiled her appreciation at his gesture, mentally starting a list of all the people she was going to have to thank by the time this ordeal was over. Looking back over to where her daughter sat, Catherine was surprised to see that Lindsey wasn't going to start her nightly ritual of asking to stay up just a few minutes longer.  
  
Lindsey stood and took three steps away from the table before turning around with a questioning look in her eyes. "Where am I sleeping tonight?"  
  
"I'll get the guest room ready for you while you're in the bath, all right?" Gil replied, as he stood when he saw Lindsey nod her head in agreement. "Cath, are you going to be all right for a few minutes? I'll be right in the other room."   
  
"I'm not helpless, Gil," she replied. "I'll be fine out here on my own for a few minutes."  
  
"I know you'll be all right. But promise me you won't do something foolish, like trying to get up on your own or…" One look at Catherine and Gil let the remainder of his thoughts remain unspoken. Instead, he turned his head to face Warrick. "Can you give me a hand getting the room settled and moving some of Cath's stuff into my bedroom?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Catherine watched as the others left the room. Leaving her stuck in the kitchen by herself. The boredom of her situation escalated quickly, and she soon found herself looking for anything that might alleviate her situation. Slowly turning her head, she scanned the room hoping something would jump out at her. With that option quickly ruled out, Catherine slowly lowered her left foot to the ground.  
  
"Shit!" She muttered at the resistance she felt as she pushed back. Looking down, she saw the cause of her stillness; the brakes were firmly in place on the wheelchair.   
  
"Cath? Are you all right out there?"  
  
Her head whipped up at the sound of Gil's voice carrying down the hallway. "I'm fine," she called out and immediately winced. 'Shit… note to self, do not yell with broken ribs.' Reaching down towards the brakes, Catherine slowly released them a slight smile coming to her face as she felt herself moving back from the table. With that step accomplished, she began slowly guiding herself out of the kitchen towards the couch in the living room.  
  
"What are you doing?"   
  
Catherine froze at the sound and turned to the left to face the man questioning her. "I got bored," she replied sheepishly. "I was just going to get on the couch and try to get a little more comfortable."  
  
"I'm pretty sure that would fall into the foolish category Gil was talking about earlier." Warrick couldn't keep the smirk off his face. Both men knew Catherine wasn't going to sit still for long, and she just proved them right. "Let me give you a hand, it will be faster." Warrick quickly moved behind Catherine and took control of the wheelchair without giving her a chance to protest.  
  
"Where are you going?" Catherine questioned, as she was turned to the left and pushed down the hall.  
  
"You, my dear, are going to bed."  
  
"I'm sleeping on the couch."  
  
"You can't honestly tell me that you thought you would be sleeping on the couch. Gris told me to bring you to his bedroom and that is exactly where we are going. Lindsey is done with her bath and Gris is getting her settled in the guest room. He'll be joining us in a minute." Warrick stopped talking as he wheeled Catherine to the bed. Reaching down, he locked the brakes before taking a seat on the bed.   
  
"Anything you want to talk about, while we're waiting?"  
  
Catherine looked deeply into Warrick's eyes, trying to decipher the exact meaning behind his question. "What do you mean…"  
  
"Are you all right? Do you want to talk about what happened?"  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
"That's not exactly answering either of my questions, but I'll let you off the hook, for now." Warrick let his eyes slide over Catherine as he finally took in the full extent of her injuries. "When was the last time you had any pain medicine?"  
  
"They gave me a shot of morphine right before we left."  
  
Warrick nodded his head as he filed the information in his mind. "Make sure you take something pretty soon. You don't want that shot to wear off." After a slight pause, Warrick decided to continue on a different subject. "When you do decide you need to talk remember that you can always call me, okay?"  
  
"I know, Warrick. Thanks for everything you've done tonight. I don't know how I'm ever going to repay everyone."  
  
Placing his hand, carefully, on Catherine's arm, Warrick echoed the words Gil had told her earlier that evening. "You don't have to thank me, Cath. And I'm sure everyone else feels the same way."  
  
"Warrick?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Gil didn't let me look when he carried me out of the house… how much… I mean, well…"  
  
"Don't worry about it, Cath. I'll make sure that everything gets cleaned up before you are ready to go back home."  
  
"No! I need to see it. To see what's missing, or at least where they were searching. Promise me you want touch anything until I can see…"   
  
"I promise, Cath, I promise." Warrick interrupted before Catherine became more upset. "I'll make sure everything is exactly the way it was when we got there. As soon as you feel ready we can take you there to look things over."  
  
Catherine was just about to respond when she sensed a presence behind her. Turning her head around, Catherine felt her eyes widen in fear as her breathing quickened, both immediately returning to normal as her eyes confirmed who she knew would be in the doorway.  
  
Gil froze in his tracks when he made eye contact with Catherine. The sheer terror on her face as he entered the room was enough to tell him that no matter how much she protested she was not all right. "It's just me. Lindsey is tucked safe and sound in the guest room. Now how about we get you comfortable in here?" Gil slowly made his way across the room, keeping his eyes locked on Catherine. "How do you want to do this? With Warrick here it should be a little easier then it was getting you out of the Tahoe."  
  
Catherine looked back and forth between the two men, and she could tell they were all trying to think of the best options. "It's the ribs that are going to cause the most problems and there isn't anything we can do about it…so maybe fast is best."  
  
Warrick stood from the bed and pulled back the covers, readying the bed for Catherine. "Do you want us to lay you in the bed, or sit you on the edge of the bed?"  
  
"Maybe I better just lay down," Catherine responded fairly quickly. "I think the morphine is starting to wear off."  
  
The two men quickly glanced at each other and silently agreed not to lecture her at the moment. The silent agreements continued between the two men as Warrick moved behind the wheelchair to stabilize it, while Gil gently lifted Catherine into his grasp. Once Catherine was out of the chair, Warrick moved the wheelchair out of the way so Gil would have a clear path to the bed.   
  
With Catherine in his grip and the wheelchair out of the way, Gil walked the four steps to the bed and placed Catherine on it. He slid his hands out from under Catherine and turned in time to see Warrick making his way out of the bedroom.   
  
"Are you all right sleeping in…I mean, do you need me to help you change…"  
  
"I'll just sleep in this tonight. I normally sleep in shorts and a t-shirt anyway, so this is comfortable."   
  
A small smile came to both of their faces at the awkwardness of the situation. Before either had a chance to voice anything Warrick came back into the room.   
  
"The bottle said to take one or two tabs. Two are probably going to knock you out, but that isn't a bad thing. Are you feeling nauseous? There are some pills for that too, but I wasn't sure if you needed that."  
  
Catherine shook her head as she gratefully accepted the pills and water glass that Warrick held out for her. With a little help from Gil, Catherine soon swallowed the pills and rested her head back on the pillow.  
  
"If you two don't need anything else…" Warrick said as he turned to leave the room. "I'm gonna go and get ready for work. If you need anything give one of us a call and we'll be here as soon as we can."  
  
"Let me walk you out."   
  
"No need, Gris. I'll be sure to lock the door behind me." With his final words, Warrick left the bedroom and made his way out of the townhouse. His thoughts remaining with the friend who was now going to have to piece her life back together, and hoping the man she had chosen would be there for her.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
To be continued 


	7. chapter 7

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. "I'll Stand By You" is by The Pretenders.

Author's Notes: Welcome to chapter 7. For those new to the lists, the first 6 chapters of this fic can be found at http//www.graveshiftcsi.com , as well as all of my other fics, and numerous fics by other G/C authors, I highly recommend it. Go to the graveyard to view the fics.

I really must thank Lauri for everything, from betaing to just being around when I need someone to vent on or bounce ideas. Thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed anything I've ever written, feedback is wonderful for a writer's imagination and when I'm really letting the writer's block get to me nothing makes me get back in the mood more then going back and reading old reviews. 

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Everything that has been aired in the US is fair game.

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage… all others please ask.

~*~*~*~

~~~

So if your mad, get mad   
Don't hold it all inside   
Come on and talk to me now 

~~~

Gil sat quietly on the bed next to Catherine for a few minutes, until he heard the door shut, signifying Warrick's exit. 

Catherine turned her head as she felt the extra weight shifting off the bed, keeping her eyes on Gil as he slowly exited the room. "Stay with me."

He stopped at the door and turned at the sound of Catherine's voice. The pleading in her voice and the look on her face was enough to invoke anger and heartbreak in him at the same time. He started back towards Catherine but found himself stopping again. "I was just going to check the doors…" Gil stood frozen between the bed and the door, not sure what he should do, and watched Catherine so he could follow her move.

"Go check the doors. Just…"

"I'll be back as fast as possible, I promise."

Catherine watched as Gil left the room. She kept her eyes glued to the door as she waited for Gil to return to the room. 'One, two, three, four… control your breathing, he's coming back, don't panic.' Her speech wasn't working. Catherine could feel her body tensing the longer she was alone in the bedroom. "Hurry up, Gil," she muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" Gil replied as he walked around the corner returning to the bedroom. 

Catherine could feel the color rising onto her cheeks. "Umm, no, not really."

Gil walked across the room and returned to his previous position on the side of the bed. "What do you want me to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have an extra set of blankets in the closet, I can go out on the couch. Or a sleeping bag, if you don't want to be alone."

"Stay with me… here in the bed."

Gil snapped his head around to look at Catherine. "Are you sure? I don't want to…"

"I'm sure. Positive. I just need someone to… well, be here."

Gil stood from the bed and went to the dresser, pulling out a t-shirt and pair of shorts. "Um, I can't sleep in this," Gil said as he indicated the clothes he had haphazardly thrown on that afternoon. Gil quickly unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing and slipped into the t-shirt. He began unbuttoning his pants and then stopped. "I'm sorry, I should…"

"It's all right."

Gil carefully read Catherine's face, making sure that her words matched her expression. After seeing that it was indeed all right, he quickly slid out of the pants he was wearing and into the shorts he had retrieved. He quickly moved into his restroom to place his clothes in the hamper, being sure to remain in Catherine's site. He turned to head back into the bedroom and took four steps before turning and grabbing the small bag of medicine that now took it's place on the counter next to Gil's sink. "Almost forgot that we need to get this antibiotic cream on your wrist," Gil said as he returned to the bedroom. Reaching the bedside, he placed the bag on the nightstand.

"Can't this wait until the morning?" Catherine said, cringing as she recognized the same tone in her voice that Lindsey would take when she was trying to get out of something.

"Four times a day, Cath. I promise I'll be gentle." Gil carefully sat on the bed and reached for Catherine's left arm. Carefully, he unwrapped the bandage then placed her wrist atop the bandage as he reached for the ointment. Turning around, he froze when he caught the look on Catherine's face. "Cath?"

Catherine tore her gaze away from her arm and looked towards Gil. "I'm sorry. I just… I haven't seen…" Catherine let her voice trail off as she glanced back to the wound on her arm. "That is going to leave an awful scar…"

"Cath, don't think like that. Once the healing has begun we can get some vitamin E oil to rub on your wounds. And there are scar reducing lotions available now. And if all else fails we can go to a plastic surgeon."

"We?" Catherine replied, turning her gaze back to Gil.

"Yes, we. I'm not going anywhere. And the only plans I have for the foreseeable future is to make sure that you are okay." Gil bent down and softly kissed her full lips, ending the kiss much sooner then he wanted. "Unfortunately, I need to get that dressing put back on your arm. I'll be as gentle as possible, but I'm not sure I can get the ointment on without causing some pain."

"It's all right. Let's just get it over with." Catherine watched as Gil again reached for the tube of ointment and squeezed out a generous portion of the cream. "Gil, you don't need…"

"The directions say to apply liberally. So that's what I intend to do. Do you want to watch or would you rather not?"

Catherine thought about her choices for a minute. "I'll watch."

"Are you sure? It's okay if…"

"I'm sure, Gil. It's just something I need to do." She explained lamely, not entirely sure how to explain her reasons.

Wordlessly, Gil quickly began the wound treatment that would soon become a routine in their lives. After he finished taping the bandages back around her arm, he looked back to Catherine's face. The tears that were escaping her eyes was breaking his heart. To know that he was the cause of this pain, the one thing he told himself he would never inflict on her, was almost more then he could take.

"Don't," Catherine said before Gil could voice what was on his mind. "This isn't your fault, so don't feel guilty. I need you right now, more then I've ever needed anyone before…" she softly admitted, and hoped that she wouldn't have to continue. She saw his face softening and watched as his hand rose to her face and began wiping away the trail of tears.

Gil removed his hand from Catherine's face and reluctantly rose and stepped away. "I'm just going to put these medicine's back in the bathroom," he explained. He quickly completed the task and returned to the room, making his way to the other side of the bed and began climbing in when a thought came to mind. "You don't mind that side of the bed do you? I didn't even think about asking when we helped you into bed. I'm sure I could…"

"Gil!"

"What?"

"It's fine," she replied with a smile. "You know me, I would have said something if it wasn't all right."

Gil let the subject drop, realizing that Catherine was correct. He settled into the bed, turning onto his side so he could watch her. 

Minutes had passed and neither had said a word, both just watching the other. "Are you just going to watch me all night?" Catherine asked, the silence finally causing her to break down.

"Not all night, just until you fall asleep." He replied simply.

"So you're going to watch me all night."

"Cath, are you sure you don't want to try those sleeping pills? You need to get some sleep."

"I don't want to sleep. If I close my eyes I'm going to relive what happened…I can't do that, not now. It's too fresh in my mind."

Gil closed his eyes for a second, trying to get his feelings back under control, needing to remain strong. "Then, I guess I'm going to be watching you all night. Do you want to talk? About anything?"

~~~

Hey, what you got to hide?   
I get angry too   
Well I'm a lot like you   
~~~

"Anything?" Catherine smiled as she saw Gil nod his head in affirmation. It had been a long time since the two of them really talked, and she couldn't help the smile that formed at the thought that there just might be a silver lining to the storm cloud that found it's way into her life that day. "Are you sure you want to do this? We haven't talked in a long time… I mean personally talked. I may have a few questions stored up."

He looked into her eyes and immediately knew what she was implying. "As long as you don't mind me asking some questions of my own. It's been a long time, and we need to talk about some things in the past if we are going to be able to have a future…" He stopped abruptly. Looking at Catherine, he could tell she knew exactly what he was going to say. 

"I thought we…"

"Decided not to talk about everything?" Gil continued when he saw Catherine's nod. "I don't want the actions we've taken in the past year to come between our future. I know I couldn't live with that, could you?"

"Where do we start?" Catherine asked, moving her hand over to place it in Gil's.

"Anywhere you wish."

"How long did you know about your hearing before you finally told me?"

She started with the question Gil knew had been on her mind since he revealed his secret. "Almost a year." He whispered, closing his eyes and waiting for her angry reply. Slowly he opened his eyes as her silence continued. The hurt on her face was unmistakable.

"You know I would have been there for you don't you? Of course you do… so that can't be it. Did you think if you ignored the facts it wouldn't be true?" She paused, waiting for the answer she knew he wouldn't reveal. "So what made you finally tell me?"

"You mean besides the fact that you had called me on it earlier?" 

"Gil…"

"I finally realized it was happening, no matter how much I tried to hide. I guess it just took me a while to admit to myself that I was losing my hearing. How long had you been suspecting I was having problems?"

"The Haviland case is when I first clued in that something was wrong. But I convinced myself that if it was anything serious you would tell me. So I kept my suspicions to myself. As time went by I realized I was correct. That's probably when I started pulling back."

"I can understand that, but what about Eddie?"

"What about Eddie?" She asked, confused at the change in subject.

"That night, I went to you. I…"

"'You went to me'?"

"At the lab. I told you I'd heard about Eddie and Lindsey and you just blew me off. Shrugged away from me. And then left me standing in the hallway to watch you accepting comfort from Nick and Warrick." Even thinking about the moment now hurt Gil, to remember just how far they had drifted apart.

"I knew I could remain in control with them. The two of us are remarkably similar in that respect, not wanting to show our weaknesses. You would have broken through my walls, and I couldn't let that happen… not at work." She tightened her hand in Gil's, drawing from the comfort of having him near. "If I had known this was all it took to finally get in your bed…"

"Don't. Don't even joke about…"

"I'm sorry. Bad taste. I'm glad you're here though." 

Gil looked down on Catherine. His eyes memorizing the marks on her face. His free hand moved to her face, carefully retracing the journey his eyes had just completed. He watched her eyes close, and let the emotions come to his face, rapidly blinking back the tears that threatened to fall as he thought of how lucky she had truly been that day.

"Catherine, why didn't you tell us about," Gil paused trying to collect his thoughts. "Why didn't you tell us about the seminal fluid?" 

Her eyes flew open at Gil's question. "I…well, I just…"

"Tell me the truth, Catherine!" The anger in his voice was unmistakable.

"Keep your voice down," she whispered with just as much anger as Gil possessed. "I didn't remember okay! I still don't know how…I…maybe I did lose consciousness, or blocked it out. I just don't know." She stopped talking as the tears overcame her.

He wanted to reach out to her, hold her in his arms, but her injuries forbade him that simple gesture. Slowly he brought his hand up, smoothing her hair as he bent down to kiss away her tears. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." He continued whispering words of comfort as he tried to console Catherine.

"Can you grab me a tissue, please?" Catherine asked, as her tears slowly came to an end. She watched as Gil complied with her wishes, after convincing himself that she was ok for the time being. "I'm sorry you had to see that…"

"I'm not. You needed that Cath, and I'm glad I was here for you. I will always be here for you." He said as he returned to the bed with the box of tissues, handing one to Catherine. "Do you still want to talk?"

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

"I don't think I have ever been more scared in my life. I wasn't sure what he was going to do, and I couldn't stop him. I tried to stop him and I couldn't." Catherine stopped and tool a deep breath, trying to calm herself before continuing. "He was going to rape me, Gil. And I don't even know who…how am I supposed to trust anyone again? Every man I meet I'm going to wonder if it was him. If he is the man who…"

"We are going to get him, Cath. I promise you."

"You can't promise me that, Gil. We don't even know if there is any evidence, if there is any trace…"

Gil interrupted before she could say anything else. "Listen to me. No matter what it takes, how long it takes, I will get him. I am not going to let you be scared for the rest of your life. The evidence is there, I am sure."

Catherine let Gil's words soothe her fears, even if it would be a temporary relief. "Can we just… not talk anymore? At least not tonight."

"Anything you want."

The two remained in silence, both watching the other and taking comfort in each other's presence. Gil watched as Catherine's eyes started to droop. Slowly turning over, he reached for the light switch, stopping at the sound of her voice.

"Leave them on. I know it's silly but I don't want to be in the dark right now."

Gil turned back to his previous position and returned to watching Catherine. He could tell the soft circles his thumb was making on her palm was having the desired effect on her. He continued watching as her eyes closed and she gave into the exhaustion and medication that was effecting her body.

~~~

When you're standing at the crossroads   
And don't know which path to choose   
Let me come along   
'Cause even if you're wrong 

I'll stand by you   
I'll stand by you   
Won't let nobody hurt you   
I'll stand by you 

~~~

~*~*~*~

to be continued


	8. chapter 8

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.

Author's Notes: Welcome to chapter 8. For those new to the lists, the first 7 chapters of this fic can be found at http://www.graveshiftcsi.com I highly recommend the site, at last count you could indulge yourself in 1005 G/C fics.

Many many thanks to Marianne for betaing this (trust me... it needed help). Lots of thanks to Laeta for continually pushing me to my 500 words. Thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed anything I've ever written, feedback is wonderful for a writer's imagination and when I'm really letting the writer's block get to me nothing makes me get back in the mood more then going back and reading old reviews.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Everything that has been aired in the US is fair game.

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage

*~*~*~*~*  


Gil rolled over slowly, opening his eyes to strange surroundings as memories of the last twenty four hours filled his mind. Looking down, he could easily read the emotions flickering across Catherine's face. He brushed the hair from her eyes, watching her muscles relax with his touch. The combination of the morning light and time made the bruises more noticeable then the previous night. 

Looking at the clock on the dresser, Gil quietly rolled out of bed and left the room. He checked the guest room and smiled as Lindsey waved at him.

"What are doing up, kiddo?" Gil asked as he walked into the room. He moved closer to the bed and opened his arms.

Lindsey pushed the covers down and jumped into Gil's arms. "How's mom?"

"She's still sleeping. What do you want for breakfast?" Gil hoped his question would dissuade Lindsey asking any more questions about Catherine for a while, at least until she had woken up and Gil had a better idea of how she was feeling. 

"Do you know how to make French toast?"

Gil nodded and he carried Lindsey to the kitchen, setting her onto one of the stools that lined the island counter. Getting out the ingredients, he cracked the eggs into a bowl and added some milk before bringing the bowl to Lindsey. "Do you want to mix this for me?"

She nodded and took the whisk from Gil's hand.

Gil turned from Lindsey and began pulling out the table setting for the three of them. Quickly arranging the table, he turned to watch Lindsey. "How are you doing, Sweetie?"

"I'm fine."

"Do you like orange juice?" He grabbed the juice from the refrigerator and had just taken three glasses out of the cabinet when a blood curdling scream came from the bedroom. "Shit!" Gil dropped the glasses at the sudden noise and looked down at the shards at his feet. "Stay where you are Lindsey. I don't want you stepping on this glass and hurting yourself. I'll be right back." Gil ran down the hall, coming to a sliding stop in the doorway to his bedroom.

Catherine's head was thrashing back and forth, tears streaming down her face. "Please, don't touch me."

He quickly crossed the room, pulling Catherine into his embrace once he reached the bed. "It's all right Cath. It's Gil. Open your eyes, your all right." He continued to whisper to her as he stroked her hair.

Her sobs slowly subsided as Gil's words began to sink into her mind. She clung tighter to Gil, the pain in her mind outweighing the pain in her body. "Gil…"

"It's all right, Cath. I'm not going anywhere."

They sat in silence. Neither feeling the need to say anything else. Gil pulled back slightly when he heard Catherine's moan.

"Let me get you some more pain pills."

"I hate those pills. The pain goes away, but I hate the doped up feeling. Can I try just one pill?"

Gil didn't reply, he just scooted out of the bed, intent on retrieving a glass of water so she could take the medicine. He placed his foot on the floor and quickly pulled it back up. "Shit!"

"Are you all right? Let me see?" 

Gil looked at his foot and then back at the floor, seeing the bloody footprints leading to his bed. "I must have stepped on some glass in the kitchen."

Catherine quickly stepped into her mother role. "Get your foot up here so I can see it." She took his foot and carefully placed it in her lap, being careful to avoid her own injuries. "Can you hand me that box of tissues?" She took the box and pulled out a tissue, carefully dabbing at the blood on Gil's foot. "Just stay still, this wont take long once I clean up your foot and figure out where the glass actually is." Making quick work of the task, she picked the few shards of glass out of Gil's foot and applied pressure to the areas that were bleeding.

"You're done?" Gil asked when he felt her fingertips press into his foot. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get the glass out of my foot without it hurting?"

"Lots of practice. Linds steps on everything. I can spend two hours vacuuming the floor after she breaks a glass, she is still going to end up stepping on a piece of it. Where is she?"

"Whisking the eggs. I'm making French toast for us. Do you feel up to joining us, or do you want to stay in here?"

"Actually I need… can you…" Catherine blushed, not sure how to ask the question.

"It's not a problem, Cath." Gil knew exactly what she was trying to ask. He carried her into the restroom and then stopped, still holding her in his arms. "Where do you want me to… I mean what do you…"

"Just set me down. I should be able to stand on my left leg and balance myself for a minute or two." 

Gil lowered Catherine from his grasp. Once her foot hit the floor he slowly released her, giving her time to get her balance. "I'll go check on Lindsey, then I'll be right back. Holler if you need anything."

Catherine nodded, and watched as Gil shut the door behind him.

*~*~*~*

Gil returned to the kitchen, surprised to see Warrick standing at the stove. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you might need someone to take Lindsey to school."

"Thanks. Did you sweep up the glass? You didn't have to do that."

"It wasn't a problem. I guessed what happened when I saw the glass, and Linds confirmed my thoughts. How is she?"

Gil turned back to check on Lindsey, who was hurriedly eating her breakfast. "She's fine, it was just a nightmare. Let me get another plate. Cath will be joining us soon, if she's still feeling all right." Gil quickly got a plate out for Warrick and grabbed another glass, filling it with water. "I'll be right back, I'm going to see if she needs any help and make sure she takes a pain pill." Gil took the glass of water with him as he left the room.

*~*~*~*

"You all right in there?" Gil asked as he knocked on the door to his bathroom. 

"Yeah." Catherine winced as she heard the uneasiness in her own voice, and new Gil would pick up on it right away.

"Can I come in?"

"No! I mean, I just… let me try this myself first, Gil." Catherine remained seated, trying to work the rest of the shirt over head. Sighing, she gave up a few minutes later. "Gil…"

He opened the door, and had to bite his tongue not to laugh at Catherine's situation. She had somehow managed to get both of her arms and her head stuck in the shirt.

"Don't laugh, Gil. I'm stuck and it's not funny."

"I'm sorry." Gil walked closer to Catherine, fully taking in the scene before him. "How did you…? Never mind." He set the glass down on the sink and quickly moved to help. In a few minutes he had managed to retrieve her left hand from the confines of the shirt, and moved to her other arm. "Hold still, you're going to get yourself stuck again." Another few minutes and Gil had freed her.

Catherine looked up at Gil, her cheeks reddening from the embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed. You're not used to the limited movements and bandages yet. We will just make sure you don't wear any shirts you need to pull over your head." Looking down, Gil gasped as he saw the bruises covering her upper body. His hand instinctively reached out, his fingers trailing down her side. "If I ever get my hands on…"

"Don't Gil. Don't say anything, don't do anything. I just need you right now. I can't get through this on my own, and you know how much I hate to need anyone." 

Gil nodded, knowing exactly what it meant for Catherine to admit she needed him. "I'm sorry, Cath."

"You don't have to apologize. Can you hand me a wash cloth?"

"Let me get your soap, too. It's out in the bedroom." Gil left the room and returned a minute later with the toiletries Warrick had brought over the night before. Taking a wash cloth from the cabinet, he moved back to Catherine. He filled the sink with warm water and dipped the towel in the water, ringing out the excess fluid before squeezing on the soap. "Can I?" Gil asked as he worked the soap into a lather. When she nodded, he gently moved the cloth over her back, avoiding the ace bandage still tightly wrapped around her midsection. He moved to her left arm next, being careful to avoid the bandages on her wrists. "Remind me to put some more cream on this when we are done in here." Reaching for another cloth, he dipped it into the water, rinsing the lather from her back and arm. He moved to stand in front of her, his eyes once again taking in the bruises that spotted her torso. Under normal circumstances, the vision of Catherine sitting before him practically naked from the waste up would be a dream come true. But these weren't normal circumstances. The hand shaped bruises over her breasts caused his stomach to churn. The nausea became more intense as his mind replayed his visions of what Catherine had gone through.

"Are you all right?" Catherine asked, reaching her hand out to touch his face.

"That should be my line, not yours."

"You went through…"

"No I didn't, Catherine. Don't even think it."

"Gil, we both know that in a rape case the entire family is effected, not just the person who was physically attacked. I wasn't raped, but we both heard the doctor. Maybe we are all going to behave as if I was."

"But we aren't…"

"Family? Gil, we may not be married, but we're family. We were a family before we started dating, and these last few months have only made us closer."

"I wasn't going to say family…well maybe I was. But I didn't mean that I don't think of you as my family. It's just… I don't know."

Catherine reached for the wash cloth, but Gil moved it out of her reach.

"I'm all right. If you don't mind, I'd like to continue." He resumed his previous actions when Catherine again nodded. 

Catherine sat still as Gil ran the wash cloth over her body. Her eyes followed his movements the entire time. She refused to show any emotion when he came into contact with the more sensitive bruises and lacerations. Despite his protests, Catherine knew that Gil was not all right. His eyes revealed so much more then he was aware, and she rarely had a problem reading his mind. She knew that as much as she needed him now, he also needed her to need him.

"Gil?" Catherine waited until he had his full attention. "We should probably hurry a little. Lindsey's out there, and you're going to have to leave pretty soon to get her to school."

"Warrick's here."

"What?"

"Warrick's here," he repeated. "He thought we might need someone to take Lindsey to school, so he stopped by after shift."

"I want to see Lindsey before she leaves. I can get my legs later."

Gil quickly finished rinsing the rest of her upper body. He took two of the pain pills out of the bottle and handed them to Catherine, along with the water. "Don't protest. I know you're in pain. I'll go find a shirt." He left the room once again and returned minutes later with one of his white dress shirts. "Sorry. I couldn't find anything that buttoned down in your bag. I'll look closer later, I'm sure Warrick brought a few."

"That's all right." Catherine tried to take the shirt from Gil, but he moved it out of her reach.

"We need to put the cream on that arm first. It will probably be easier if we don't have to hold the sleeve out of the way." He quickly removed the bandage covering her arm, and using a clean wash cloth, gently washed the wound before reapplying the medicine and bandage. Once finished, he helped Catherine get the shirt on and started to button the shirt.

"Gil? I can get this myself."

"Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."

Catherine smiled as she finished buttoning the shirt, and pushed the sleeves up on the shirt. "It's all right. Sometimes a girl likes to have a man take care of her, and I'm no exception. But I don't want to start relying on you too much. I need to try and do as much as possible for myself."

"I know you think you do. When I go overboard just let me know, and I'll return the favor." Gil bent down and pulled Catherine into his arms. "You hungry?" He asked as he carried her towards the kitchen. "Warrick took over the cooking, so it should be ready by now." Gil came to a stop when he reached the kitchen, both smiling at the scene before them.

Lindsey was talking animatedly, entertaining Warrick in a tale the two had heard numerous times in the past. She stopped talking when she sensed her audience had grown, and turned to see Gil and Catherine in the doorway. "Mommy!" Lindsey jumped up and ran over to Gil.

"Just a minute, Linds. Let me get settled first, okay Sweetie?"

Gil set Catherine down in the chair, and pulled back, allowing Lindsey to step closer to her mother.

"How do you feel? You look worse then you did yesterday."

Catherine shook her head. Lindsey's bluntness was something she loved, most of the time. "I feel a little better. And you know bruises get worse before they start looking better. Just wait until they start turning yellow and green on me, I'll be scaring everyone by then."

Lindsey laughed and wrapped her arms around Catherine. "No you wont. You'll never scare me and Uncle Grissom away."

"That's good to know. So how was breakfast? Am I going to like it?"

"It was great! Of course, Uncle Grissom had everything ready before he went to help you. So all Uncle Warrick had to do was cook it."

It was at that moment that Warrick placed a plate of piping hot French toast on the table. "But I didn't burn it."

"You better start getting ready for school, Lindsey." Gil knew if he didn't say something soon, the little girl would try to stay in the kitchen with the adults as long as possible. He watched as Lindsey ran down the hallway to the guestroom. 

Once Lindsey was gone Gil and Warrick both sat at the table and the three adults began to eat.

"Thanks for coming over." 

"It wasn't any problem, Cath. I was pretty sure the two of you wouldn't have completely thought out the details of how Lindsey was going to get to school, and I'm up anyway." Warrick shrugged and reached for another piece of French toast.

"That doesn't mean we don't appreciate it any less. The last thing on my mind last night was how Lindsey was going to get to school this morning."

"Can I ask the two of you a question?" Warrick broke in, before Catherine could say anything else. When neither of them said anything he continued. "Are you two…seeing each other? As in dating?"

Gil looked at Catherine, wanting to see if she wanted to answer. At her slight nod he answered. "Yes."

"How long? And why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't tell anyone, it wasn't just you we kept this from. And we've only been dating for a few months now."

When Gil paused, Catherine jumped in, starting where he left off. "At first we just wanted to wait and see what happened. We've been friends so long it just seemed like a natural step to start dating. But it was also frightening. We didn't know what would happen if the relationship failed, and neither of us wanted the extra pressure of having everyone else know about us. So we kept things quiet. It was pretty easy to do until yesterday."

"At least Lindsey knew to call me."

"Wait a minute…" Warrick paused, trying to think out how to word his question. "Lindsey knew to call you… so she knew you wouldn't be in the house with Cath… and I didn't see any of your…"

"I know where your going, Warrick. Just don't go there. The way we handle our relationship is our business. Besides we have Lindsey to consider, she just lost her father, and it isn't right to try and force myself into her life right now."

"No more questions. But how about a comment? I'm happy for the two of you. I've noticed that you been happier lately. And, Gil… you may not see it, but that little girl in there adores you. You don't have to worry about forcing yourself into her life, you're already in it."

Before anyone could say anything else, Lindsey came barreling back down the hallway, her blonde hair streaming behind her. "Mommy, can you French braid my hair? Everyone is wearing their hair braided today with our pink shirts."

Catherine looked down at the cast on her arm and tried closing her fingers. "I can try, baby. But I think this cast is going to get in the way. If I can't get it French braided, maybe we can just pull it back into a braid. Would that be all right?"

Lindsey nodded her head in agreement, but her disappointment was clearly evident to everyone in the room. 

Catherine took the brush from Lindsey and started running it through her hair. The motions of her arm put a strain on her ribs, but she refused to give in to the pain.

"Cath, why don't you let me brush her hair while you finish your meal." Gil knew she was in pain, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. He had broken a rib himself years ago, and just the process of breathing had been painful. 

Catherine hesitated. Her favorite times of the day were those she spent with Lindsey, and she loved their morning 'girl talks' they had while she brushed her daughter's hair. Reluctantly she agreed with Gil's request, the pain in her body overtaking the pain in her heart. She handed the brush to Gil and watched as he took over her place.

Warrick watched the three people in front of him. It was obvious that Gil and Catherine were hiding their feelings, from each other and Lindsey. And he knew Lindsey wasn't telling them how scared she really was; she had told him that much before Gil and Catherine came out of the bedroom. He knew he was going to have to tell Catherine what Lindsey was feeling, and that was going to cause her even more pain. Looking down at his watch, he noticed the time and began to stand up. "We better get going Lindsey. It takes a bit longer to get to your school from here."

Gil finished wrapping the elastic around Lindsey's hair and watched as she jumped up, running into the living room. He grimaced when he saw her hair, which was done in what might loosely be called a braid. He turned to Catherine with a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry. I've never braided anyone's hair before."

"I guessed that, Gil."

"Do you want me to fix it?"

"She'll be fine. I'm sure she won't even notice…" Catherine stopped as Lindsey came back into the room, her backpack over a shoulder. "Lindsey, what did I tell you about that?"

"Sorry, mom." Lindsey pulled the bag onto her other shoulder and wrapped her arms around Catherine's neck. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie. Be good today and wait there after school, we'll come and pick you up."

"Are you sure you can? I can get a ride home with…"

"No. All your friends live too far from here. If Gil and I don't pick you up we'll call the school and let you know." Catherine loosened her grip and let Lindsey pull away. "Have fun at school today."

"I will." Lindsey quickly kissed her mother before turning to Gil and giving him a hug. "Thanks for taking care of my mom. I love you."

Warrick watched the scene before him unfold, with just as much shock on his face as there was on the other adults. He always knew that Gil was close to the little girl, well as close as Gil was to anyone, but he never imagined that he would witness the scene that had just played out. Feeling as though he was intruding on the family moment, he cleared his throat reminding the others that he was still in the room. "You ready to leave, Linds?"

Catherine watched as Lindsey followed Warrick out of the house. Once the door closed, she turned back to Gil, the shocked look still reflected in his eyes. "That was unexpected."

"I'm sure it's just because I was there yesterday."

"No it isn't, Gil. You've always been there for us, and she knows that. Don't sell yourself short." Catherine stopped abruptly, watching Gil with interest as he comprehended the words she had just said. "You do know how much you mean to me, don't you?"

"I do. Of course I do. It's just… I never expected Lindsey to say that."

"There's nothing like the love of a child is there?"

Gil smiled. The shock completely disappearing as it was replaced with delight. "I can see why you like it so much. I've never been on this end of that feeling before." Gil reached out, placing his hand on Catherine's. "You've done a wonderful job with her. Have I told you that? I don't know how you manage to work all the time and still raise a daughter on your own."

"Gil?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we change the subject? You know I love talking about Linds… but with everything that's happened, I just don't know if I can handle thinking about what I …."

"So is there anything you do want to talk about? Or anything you want to do? We can finish your bath if you're up to it."

"Have you heard anything… about…"

"Nothing yet. They are working on it, but you know it takes a while to process all the evidence."

"I know. I guess I'm just anxious. You know, we get irritated from time to time when the victims families expect us to know all the answers instantaneously… but now that I'm on the other side… I just want to know, so I can start putting this behind me."

Gil moved his chair closer to Catherine's, pulling her into a light embrace. "You'll know. I promise we are going to catch…"

"Why do you keep saying that? Gil, I'm not naïve. I know we don't solve every crime. Do you know what they recovered at the scene?" Catherine could feel the tears starting to come to her eyes as she buried her face in his chest.

"No. I haven't checked in with…"

"Exactly. You don't know. They could have found 10,000 prints, and they might all be mine, Lindsey's and yours. And even if they do find a print that isn't one of ours, the odds of the print being in one of the databases isn't that good. And…"

Gil pulled back slightly from their embrace, pressing his lips against hers to silence the constant stream of thoughts. "Catherine, you need to stop thinking about this."

"I can't! Every breath I take I'm reminded of what happened. I can't just forget about it, Gil. Hell it hasn't even been a day yet. I don't even know if they found what they were looking for…what do I do when he comes back? What if Lindsey's…"

"Catherine!" Gil paused, sighing heavily in the silence he just created. "I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do. I want to make everything better. I want to make everything go away."

"You can't just make it go away, Gil." She could hear her own voice starting to crack and paused, closing her eyes and hoping to get a bit of composure before continuing. "I'm scared. What if I can't get past this? What if this is the one thing that can completely undo me? The one thing in my life I can't get past?"

"Listen to yourself. You know what you need to do, and you are doing it. Everything is going to be fine. Lindsey will be fine. I will be fine. You are going to be fine. I know it."

"Is it wrong that I'm more scared now then I was last night?"

"Of course it isn't." Gil leaned back in his chair, trying to find a comfortable position as he watched Catherine. "Do you want to go somewhere else? My couch isn't that comfortable, but it's definitely better then these chairs."

Catherine didn't speak, she just nodded her agreement. She was about to say something, when Gil stood, sweeping her into his arms and carrying her to the couch. "Gil? Wasn't there a reason to get the wheelchair? I don't want you to feel like you have to carry me everywhere. I'm perfectly capable of…"

"I know. Trust me, I'm the last person that would ever doubt any of your capabilities. But I don't feel like I have to carry you everywhere. I want to." Gil carefully placed her on the couch, then stood before her. "I know you aren't going to let me stay around with you until you can go back to work. I just want to do everything I can for the time being."

She sighed, leaning back in resolution. "Are you going to join me on the couch?"

"Eventually." He smirked. "I'm going to go clean up the mess in the kitchen real quick. I'll move the television out here later this afternoon, unless you want to watch it now?"

"You don't need to move the TV out here. You don't have to…"

"Are we going to have this argument again?"

"No. I just… never mind. I'll let it drop. You'd think I could just be happy with the fact that you want to do all of this for me, but I keep pushing."

"It's one of the things I love about you, Cath. You don't push anyone harder then you push yourself. Besides, if it wasn't for your pushing we would forever be stuck in the realm of friendship. I think what we have now is much better." Gil paused, thoughts of the last few months drifting through his mind. "Let me get those dishes in some water. I'll be right back."

True to his word, Gil was sitting next to Catherine minutes later, his arm carefully draped over the couch behind her.

Catherine leaned back, laying her head on Gil's shoulder and placing her hand in his lap. "We've got a while before Lindsey needs to be picked up. What do you want to do?"

"I'm perfectly content doing what we are doing now."

"We aren't doing anything."

"I know. And there isn't anything we have to do for a while. It's a nice change of pace."

"We should probably…"

"Relax. We have plenty of time. There isn't anything that we need to do right now. You can watch me unpack later. Have the pain pills helped any yet?"

"Yeah. It's just a dull ache now. I've been thinking…Mobley isn't going to let our team work on the case for long. Do you think Ecklie will keep me updated on what they've found?"

"Cath…"

"Don't 'Cath' me Gil. We're lucky they didn't show up yesterday. We both know it's a conflict of interest, and honestly if I was thinking more clearly yesterday I would have pointed that out at that time. I don't want this case thrown out on a technicality."

"I'm sure Ecklie will keep you updated. It's me he doesn't like."

"I had asked Warrick not to clean up the house. I want to see if anything's missing. They were looking for something, and I may be the only one that can figure that out. I know it's soon, but maybe we can go over there tomorrow."

"Are you sure?"

"No. But it will make me feel like I'm helping, not useless."

Gil sighed, trying to think of a response that Catherine wouldn't protest. "You know exactly what I want to say to that, but I wont…I know what you'll tell me in return. If you're still feeling up to it tomorrow we'll go back to your house. We should probably think about bringing Ecklie, or someone else with us so that there is absolutely no doubt about anything we might find."

Catherine didn't say anything, she just closed her eyes and listened.

*~*~*~*

Gil looked around his bedroom, making sure that everything was in place. Catherine had fallen asleep earlier, and he was using that to his advantage. He had unpacked all of her belongings into his own room, and was just checking to make sure she was still sleeping before beginning work in the guest room. Stopping in the doorway to the living room, he watched Catherine sleep for a few moments before turning his attention to the guest room. He quickly unpacked the few clothes Warrick had brought for the young girl, and got to work on the toys. 

Finishing the guest room, he glanced down at his watch. 'One o' clock. I should wake Cath and…' Gil's thoughts were interrupted by a blood curdling scream.

"No! Get off me!"

Gil raced out of the room, down the hallway and slid across the living room, bringing his hands out to catch himself against the wall. Looking down, he saw Catherine thrashing back and forth on the couch. He quickly dropped to his knees beside her, grasping her hand within his own. "Cath? You're all right. Wake up, honey." Gil continued talking, running his free hand through her hair as he watched her slowly come out of her nightmare. Her eyes blinked open, and Gil was startled at the shear terror he saw in her eyes. "It's all right, Cath. I'm here. It's just a nightmare. Everything's fine, baby."

Catherine breathed deeply, slowly trying to calm herself. "I could feel him. His hands were wrapped around my neck. I tried to get him off, but he was just too strong…" She drifted off, again focusing on calming down. "What time is it?"

"One."

"Twenty-four hours."

"What?" 

"It's only been about twenty-four hours since this all started. A little less for you, but…"

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" 

*~*~*~*


	9. chapter 9

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. 

Author's Notes: Welcome to chapter 9. For those new to the lists, the first 8 chapters of this fic can be found at I highly recommend the site, at last count you could indulge yourself in 1056 G/C fics.

Many many thanks to Marianne for betaing this. I know this is shorter then the last few chapters I've posted… but I got it out a lot faster then I did the previous chapters.

Rating: PG-13 … still

Spoilers: Everything that has been aired in the US is fair game.

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage

*~*~*~*~*

Catherine turned her head as she woke the next morning. A smile came to her face when she saw Gil sleeping soundly, his arm protectively draped over her waist. She gently snuggled closer to him, loving the feeling of protection he brought to the household. Glancing at the clock over Gil's shoulder, she sighed, knowing they would have to begin their day shortly. She closed her eyes, wanting just a few more minutes before facing her demons.

"You awake?"

Catherine nodded her reply, burying her head in Gil's neck. "Just hold me, please." Catherine didn't say anything more as she felt Gil reply to her wish, his arms gently guiding her closer. 

"You don't have to…"

"I know." Catherine interrupted and pulled back slightly to look at him. "I need to face it though. If I don't go back… I just need to face the fear."

"But we can go back later, after you've had a chance to heal."

"The longer I put it off, the harder it will be. I just need…"

"I know. I just want you to know that you don't have to do this. No one is pushing you. We'll take things at your pace, all right?" Gil smiled as he saw Catherine nod her reply. "Why don't we start getting ready? Lindsey will be up soon. And I have a feeling we are going to have a full day ahead of us."

*~*~*~*

Catherine's anxiety increased as Gil eased the car to a stop outside her home. She was startled when the door opened and he appeared before her.

"Sorry, Cath…"

"It's all right. I was just… thinking."

"Are you sure you're up for this? We don't have to…"

Catherine smiled and put her hand to Gil's face effectively stopping his words. "It's going to be hard. But I want to do this. We need to know what they were looking for, and I'm the only one that will recognize if something is missing."

Gil nodded, knowing that Catherine was right. "Let me get the wheelchair, I'll be back in a second."

"No."

Gil turned back to her. "What?"

"I hate that thing. Can't I just…"

"Hop around on one foot? You can't do that Catherine. We could be here for hours. It's just not practical. The wheelchair will just make you more comfortable."

"No it won't. It will just remind me of what happened. Please don't make me…"

Gil sighed, unsure what to do. He didn't want to make this any more difficult on Catherine then it was going to be, but he also knew there was no way she was going to be able to get around the house on her own. "How bad is your rib pain?"

Catherine smiled, knowing she had won this battle. "It's not bad."

"So do you think you can get your arm around my shoulder?"

"Yeah."

"If you get tired, or I think you are getting tired, I'm going to get the wheelchair. No arguments."

"No arguments." Catherine quickly agreed before Gil could change his mind.

He held open his arms and slipped them around Catherine's waist. "Let's give this a try." He slowly pulled her closer to him, sliding her out of the car and pressing her body into his, keeping her suspended in mid-air. "Don't put your right foot down." Gil reminded her as he slid her down his body until her foot touched the ground. "You okay?" At Catherine's nod, he slowly released his hold on her and turned slightly, keeping one arm around her waist. "Let me know if I go to fast."

Catherine nodded and took a step forward, both slowly moving towards the house. "Maybe we should wait? Brass and Ecklie are both coming, right?"

"They should be here any minute."

"I don't want to go in until they get here, okay? I don't want any doubts…"

"We'll wait for them." Gil said as he stopped walking. "Are you…"

"If you ask me one more time if I'm…"

"Sorry. I'll try not to ask again. But I'm worried."

Catherine turned to look at him, sighing as she did. "I know you're just looking out for me. It's sweet, it really is, but…"

"But I'm driving you nuts."

"I wouldn't say that."

"You didn't say that. I did." Gil chuckled. "I promise I'll try to relax a little."

The sound of the car pulling into the driveway stopped any further conversation between the two. They both turned and watched as Brass and Ecklie walked to them.

Ecklie's eyebrow raised slightly as he watched the two colleagues before him. "You two look pretty cozy. Anything you want to tell me."

"Don't even try to start anything, Conrad." Gil started, but stopped when he felt Catherine brush his shoulder.

"You want me to tell you something, Ecklie? Do you want to hear about how I was woken out of sleep and attacked in my own bedroom? How about the fact that I can't even move around on my own? Or maybe you want to hear about how all the skin was torn off my wrists as I fought to get out of the ropes that bound my hands and legs together? Which one do you want me to tell you about first?" Catherine took a breath, trying to calm herself down.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line." Ecklie stopped and looked at Catherine, clearly seeing her for the first time. "Are you all right? We don't have to do this. I can go in by myself."

Catherine shook her head, not wanting to have to go through this again. "You won't know what to look for. I'm the only one that's going to recognize if anything is missing, or at least where they concentrated their search."

"Let's get this done with then, shall we?" Brass asked, stepping closer to Catherine and Gil. "Do you have the keys?" Brass held his hand out, taking the keys as Gil handed them to him and passing them to Ecklie. "I'd ask why you aren't using your wheelchair, but I don't think I want to get in that argument. Let me help?"

Catherine nodded, and let the two men help her walk into the crime scene, her former home. They paused at the doorway and waited for Ecklie to open the door. Catherine closed her eyes as she waited to go in, forcing herself to concentrate on her breathing.

Brass watched her intensely and was about to say something when he saw Gil shake his head, indicating he should remain quiet. The three men stood still, all waiting to take their cue from Catherine.

Slowly she opened her eyes and saw the three sets of eyes watching her, awaiting her move. "Let's go. It's now or never." She went to take a step and felt herself lifted off the ground. "What are you two doing?"

"Just keep your arms around our necks, we aren't going to let you fall." Gil assured her as they stepped closer to the doorway, turning sideways so the three could fit through the frame together.

"Besides it's easier to lift you then it is to stoop to your level. You're not very tall, Cath."

They stepped into the house and Catherine gasped at her first view of her destroyed home. "Oh my….what the…" She paused and looked around, feeling the tears come to her eyes. "Look at what they did."

"Catherine? Are you sure?" Ecklie looked at the fellow investigator, he'd be reluctant to admit it to anyone, but he had always liked Catherine. She had an amazing personality that seemed to draw everyone in, and he was no exception.

She took in deep breaths, trying to control her emotions before answering. "Is the rest of the house like this? Or is it concentrated here."

"Lindsey's room is all right. We don't know if they were interrupted before they had a chance to go in there, or if they purposely avoided it." Brass answered

Catherine nodded, still taking in the scene before her, blinking back the tears that continued to threaten to fall. "That's something positive. I don't know if I'll be able to tell what's missing."

Gil looked up at Catherine's words, remembering something he had said many times in the past. "That's the point. Distraction. Maybe all of this is designed to make us think they were looking for something down here. We need to focus on Lindsey's room."

The group moved up the stairs, as quick as they could with Catherine's injuries. Ecklie opened the door to the child's room and the four stepped in, looking to see if anything appeared out of place.

"Catherine? Are you noticing anything?"

She ignored him, continuing to look around the room. "Did any of our people take anything out of here? What did Warrick bring over to the townhouse?"

"What do you see?" Gil asked and slowly walked her further into the room.

"Go over to the dresser." Catherine told him. Once there she looked at the slight layer of print powder over the furniture. "Warrick wouldn't have taken anything out of here before they processed the room." Catherine said to herself, the three men listening intently to her thoughts. "Someone call Warrick for me please? We should have had him here…" She trailed off, her mind still focused on the surface before her.

Brass looked at Gil and nodded, both knowing what needed to be done. They bent slightly and gently let Catherine's foot touch the floor, giving her time to get her balance before Brass removed his grip. He retrieved his phone and pressed a few buttons, waiting as the line rang. "Warrick? It's Jim. We're here at Cath's house right now and we need to know exactly what you took over to Grissom's house the other…wait a minute." He noticed Catherine's gesture and handed her the phone.

"Warrick it's me. Lindsey's room was processed before you took anything…"

"Of course it was! I wouldn't think of compromising the…"

"I know, I'm sorry. But I had to make sure. You didn't bring over a jewelry box did you?"

"No. I didn't see one." Warrick replied over the phone. "Is that what they were looking for?"

"It's too soon to tell Warrick. We'll tell you more about it later though, okay? Bye." Catherine flipped the phone closed and handed it back to Brass. "Her jewelry box is missing. Warrick didn't take it. Lindsey always keeps it on her dresser, right here in the middle." Catherine pointed to the empty space.

"We need to make sure she didn't move it before we come to any conclusions." 

"She didn't move it, Ecklie. I know my daughter. Eddie gave it to her for her birthday last year. It's the last gift he gave her before…"

Gil cleared his throat and turned to face Catherine. "What do you remember about the box?"

Catherine closed her eyes, trying to picture it. "It was wooden. Had one of those dancing ballerinas in it and played 'Beautiful Dreamer.' It was actually pretty nice, a dark mahogany with red velvet inside. There was a vine like carving on the top. There's a picture of Lindsey and Eddie with the box… or at least there was. It was in the living room with the rest of my pictures." 

"I'm sure it's still there, Cath. It's a big mess, but for the most part things weren't destroyed… just… redistributed."

Catherine couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Trust Gil to come up with the word 'redistributed' to describe the current state of her home.

"And look on the bright side. At least now you can get that new furniture you've been wanting to buy."

Catherine laughed and all the men smiled, glad to see a glimmer of happiness brighten her eyes.

*~*~*~*


	10. chapter 10

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: hillgrics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.

Author's Notes: Ellie wanted me to post a fic for her birthday, and well I knew I had this chapter almost ready... So instead of a fic, it's a chapter, hope that's all right. I was going to wait until after the update to post this so I wouldn't have to get it ready to put on the website today, but Allison told me that was wrong. So I'm posting.

Many thanks to Marianne, as always, for a wonderful beta... not to mention answering all my doubts.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: anything and everything is fair game but nothing specific

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage

Ecklie looked down at his watch for the tenth time, sighing as he watched the two CSI's before him.

"You're free to leave, Ecklie, if we're boring you." Catherine called behind her from her place on the floor.

"I can't leave and you know it. I'm stuck as long as the two of you stay here. Have you found anything yet?"

Gil shook his head before speaking. "We're still looking. If you wanted things to go a little faster, you could jump in and help instead of watching us work your case."

"I'm letting you be here, Gil. I can kick you out of here and off this case anytime I want and don't you forget that."

"Are you threatening me?" Gil started to walk towards Ecklie, but stopped when he heard Catherine clear her throat.

"If you two make me stand up, you are going to regret it. Gil, keep looking for the pictures. Ecklie, get off your ass and help out. You aren't making things go any faster and I really don't want to be here all day."

The two men followed Catherine's commands, neither wanting to do anything else to upset her. They went to opposite sides of the room, quickly getting to work. They had soon uncovered a large amount of photos that Catherine was diligently sorting through, hoping the picture hadn't been destroyed.

"Yes! Owww…" Catherine moaned in pain that her sudden yell caused. "Here's the picture." She held out the photograph so the two men could see it.

Gil took the picture from her hand and passed it to Ecklie, not giving it a glance as he knelt in front of Catherine. "We need to get you out of here."

"I'm fine. I don't…"

Ecklie spoke up, surprising everyone. "Gil's right, Catherine. Shocking, I know; I'm actually agreeing with Gil. You shouldn't have even come here today, you aren't supposed to return to work for a week… and judging by the way you look you should probably be off longer than that."

Catherine looked up at Ecklie, the shock clearly evident on her face. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted before she could say anything.

"I didn't mean that you looked bad… well, maybe I did. You are a gorgeous woman, Catherine, and nothing can change that. But it's obvious that you are in pain, no matter how hard you try to hide it. You figured out what was missing, which is clearly something that no one else would have been able to do. Let us work the case. I know neither of you think highly of me or my team, but I promise we'll do everything we can to find out who is responsible for this and I'll personally keep you informed of our progress."

Catherine glanced back and forth between the two men and sighed in defeat. "You're not going to let me win this one, are you?"

"You don't have a chance." Gil grinned at her. "Besides, if we leave now we can swing past the school and pick up Lindsey."

Catherine nodded and watched as Gil made his way to her, kneeling before her and pulling her into his arms before standing. "Gil, you don't need to carry me. I can…"

"I know I don't need to." Gil whispered, trying to keep their conversation away from Ecklie. Turning around, he moved his focus onto the other man for a minute. "Ecklie, do you think you can get the door for me?"

"No problem, Grissom. And Catherine, I meant what I said. I'll keep you informed on the case and what we find out." Ecklie started to move towards Catherine and then abruptly changed direction and headed for the door. With the photograph in hand, he opened the door as they all left the house then secured it behind them, taking time to ensure the door was sealed shut before stepping away. He then moved to the car and opened the passenger door for Gil. Ecklie remained silent, watching as Gil got Catherine settled and shut the door. "Can I talk to you a second, Gil?"

"Um, sure." Gil stepped away from the passenger door, leading Ecklie towards the back of the vehicle.

"What exactly is… never mind. I don't think I want to know. I'm sure you are aware of the policies against getting involved with…"

"What are you saying Conrad?" Gil immediately tensed up, not liking where this conversation was heading.

"I'm not going to say anything, and I don't want to know anything. I like Catherine. But if I can tell there's something going on between the two of you then I'm not the only one who knows. If you go to Mobley now… he may not fire you. He doesn't like you either, but he likes Catherine. Just don't let him be the last person to find out about you two. You can probably get him to relinquish one of the Tahoe's for personal use as well. It will definitely be a lot easier to get the wheelchair in, and it might make it more comfortable for Catherine to maneuver."

Gil remained silent. Not able to believe that this adversary was offering him this advice, and actually being somewhat civil as he was doing it.

"I know. This is strange coming from me. Right?" Ecklie spoke his thoughts.

"Well, it's not like the two of us often see eye to eye."

"I know. I know. Just take care of her. She didn't deserve what happened and I'm going to do my best to find the perpetrator."

"He is going to be caught. I promised Catherine."

"You promised? You can't promise something like that."

Gil shook his head. "I've already heard this from Cath. But look at her. She is not going to be scared this guy is coming after her for the rest of her life. If you don't find him, I will." Gil stuck his hand out, waiting until Ecklie returned the gesture, both men recognizing the rarity of actual physical contact between them. "Thanks for the advice. I'll talk it over with Cath. I will see about the Tahoe though, it will definitely make getting around easier." Gil turned and continued going around the car getting in the driver's seat and turning to Cath.

"What was that about?"

Gil shook his head, still somewhat confused. "He was giving me some advice."

"Advice? Ecklie? Conrad Ecklie?"

He chuckled, a slight smile coming to his face. "That's what I was thinking. But I'm pretty sure he was being sincere."

"What did he have to say?"

"I'll tell you about it later tonight. We should get going if we want to get to the school in time to pick up Lindsey."

Catherine nodded, and closed her eyes as she heard Gil start the car and drive off.

Gil pulled the car to a stop in front of the school and turned towards Catherine. Frowning slightly, he moved his hand towards Catherine, brushing the hair off her face. "Catherine," he whispered softly, reluctant to wake her. Moving his hand to her shoulder he gently shook as he spoke again, this time a little louder. "Catherine? Wake-up, honey." Gil watched as her eyes opened.

"Gil?"

"We're at the school. I'm going to go in to get Lindsey, but I didn't want you to wake up alone. Are you alright?"

Catherine nodded, shaking her head to wake herself up a little more. "I'm fine, just a bit tired. These damn pain pills…"

"You need them. And you need the sleep."

"I know. I just hate this doped up feeling. You know how I feel about medication."

"Cath, I…"

"It's alright. Go. Lindsey should be out soon, and you need to get to the office before classes are over. I'll be alright out here."

"Are you sure?"

"Gil…"

"I'm going, I'm going." Gil placed a quick kiss on her temple and left the car.

"Gil!"

He turned at the sound of his name, smiling and opening his arms as Lindsey jumped into them.

"Mom's okay isn't she? Why are you here to get me? And why did I have to leave class early? And…"

"Linds, one question at a time sweetheart. Your mother is fine. We were out and decided to come and get you."

Lindsey frowned. "What are you doing out? Mom shouldn't be out. She's supposed to be in bed, getting better."

Gil decided to ignore Lindsey's first question. "Let's get going then. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get home." He put Lindsey down and instinctively reached for her hand.

Lindsey pulled her hand away and looked up in shock. "What are you doing Uncle Gil? I'm ten. Do you know what everyone would say if they saw me holding your hand?"

"Sorry." Gil put his hand down and walked beside Lindsey to the car.

"Hi Mom!" Lindsey said as she crawled into the back seat.

"Hey baby." Catherine started to shift in her seat to turn towards the back, but the shooting pains quickly convinced her to remain still. "How was school?"

"It was all right. But you'll never guess what Gil tried to do to me."

Gil entered the car, glancing to the back as he heard Lindsey's last line. "I told you I was sorry about that, Linds."

"Do you know how disastrous that could have been? I'd have been shunned." Lindsey sighed dramatically.

"What happened, Lindsey?" Catherine asked as she watched Gil.

"He tried to hold my hand! I'd have been called a baby for the rest of my life if anyone had seen that. Can you imagine my embarrassment? I'm ten years old, I don't need my parents to hold my hand."

Catherine and Gil smiled at Lindsey's theatrics. Gil started the car and began the drive home, listening to Catherine calm Lindsey down.

"Did anyone see you?"

"No. Thankfully you were here early, so everyone was still in class."

"Sounds like you just missed the bullet. But at least now Gil knows about PDAs with you."

"PDAs?" Gil glanced quickly at Catherine before turning back to the road ahead.

"Public Displays of Affection." Catherine filled in for him, reaching for his hand. "Definitely something that every teenager does not want their friends to see happen between them and their parents."

Gil smiled broadly at Catherine's explanation. "So that means that Linds…"

"It appears so." Catherine squeezed Gil's hand tighter, a smile brightening her face.

Gil drove the rest of the way to his home with a huge grin on his face, listening to the women in his life chatter about their day, as if nothing had changed.


	11. chapter 11

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they ar the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. 

Author's Notes: It's been a long time... anyone even remember this fic. I've been anxious about even attempting to open this fic lately and finally just worked up my nerve and did. Now to start writing some more on it... The first ten chapters can be found on, for those that don't remember... or need a refresher on the fic.

Many thanks to Marianne, as always, for a wonderful beta... not to mention answering all my doubts.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: anything and everything is fair game but nothing specific

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage

* * *

Gil watched as Lindsey jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. "Does she ever slow down?" He asked as he turned to Catherine.

"Not often. She's at the age where she has limitless energy."

"Just watching her makes me tired." Gil grinned. "Ready to go in?"

Catherine nodded. "I'll wait."

Gil quickly made his way around the car, assured that Catherine would wait for him, but still with doubts on how long her patience would actually last. Opening the car door, he handed her his keys before bending down. "It's easier to give them to you now then try and get them out of my pocket once we get to the door." He sheepishly explained. Lifting her into his arms and kicking the door shut behind him, he made the short distance to the front door with ease. "Linds, can you take the keys from your mother and open the door, please?"

Lindsey did as Gil asked, waiting until they were in before shutting the door behind him. She crossed the room to the couch and squeezed in between them.

"How was school today, sweetie?"

"It was all right. We're going to have a test on Friday. Why do teachers always put tests on Fridays? All I can think about on Friday is that I don't have to go to school for two days."

Grins came to the faces of the two adults as they looked down at her.

"But tests on Friday aren't that bad. It's better then having the test on Monday." Gil reasoned with her.

"I still don't want to take the test." Lindsey said as she crossed her arms.

"What's the test on?"

"History. All those names and dates… I just…" Lindsey stopped as they heard the phone ringing. "I'll get it." She jumped up from the couch and ran to the phone. "Hello? Yeah. Hi Warrick! I'm fine how are you? He's over on the couch with mom, I'll get him for you." Lindsey turned around with the phone in her hand. "It's Warrick. He wants to speak to…"

"We heard, honey." Catherine said, watching as Gil got up to take the phone from Lindsey.

"Warrick, what's going on?"

Catherine continued watching Gil, his head nodding as he listened to what Warrick was telling him. His voice suddenly raised and she could see the anger rising in his features, his fists clenching. "Sweetie, why don't you go on down to the guest room and get started on your homework?"

Lindsey didn't argue, picking up her backpack and heading down the hall. Catherine sighed with relief when she heard the door close and turned her attention back to Gil. It was clear he still wasn't happy. She held her hand up, motioning him over to the couch, relieved when he noticed and started walking towards her. Reaching up, she grasped his free hand and pulled him onto the couch, leaning close to try and hear the other side of the conversation. "What's he saying?"

Gil turned to Cath, seeing the worry in her eyes. "Just a minute, Warrick." He said before moving the phone. "He's just filling me in on the case. Most of the prints came back for the three of us. There was one in your bedroom, on the headboard, that hasn't been identified yet. Another on the doorframe into your room and one on Lindsey's dresser. The prints are still being processed, and Greg put your case up front, so they are hoping they may start getting some DNA results tonight."

Catherine nodded, reaching for Gil's hand and raising the phone back up to his ear so he could finish the phone conversation. She moved her hand down to grasp Gil's free hand, leaning her head on his shoulder as he finished the rest of his call.

"Call me in the morning and let me know if anything else comes up, okay? Yeah that sounds all right. You know when Lindsey leaves so you may want to wait until after that. I will, bye."

"What was that about?" Catherine asked, her head still resting on Gil's shoulder.

"They want to see you. After work tomorrow. We can call later tonight and tell them no if your not up to it."

Catherine nodding, knowing she wouldn't be able to hide from them forever. "Let's wait until tomorrow before we make any definite decisions."

"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the evening?"

"Gil…"

"You're exhausted Catherine. Any fool can see it, as evidenced by Ecklie's comments earlier this afternoon."

Ignoring his comment, she snuggled closer to Gil, playing with the fingers she still held in her hand. "You never did tell me what he said…"

"He started to ask what our relationship was, but changed his mind. Probably figures if he doesn't know then when Mobley finds out he can just play stupid. He did suggest that we tell Mobley though."

"Let me guess, something about him being more upset if he's left out of the loop?"

"Exactly," Gil nodded, shifting slightly lower on the couch. "I guess Ecklie has a point. Besides, Brian likes you, so he may not be totally opposed to the idea. I was looking the other day, and there is no actual rule written anywhere that says we can't have a relationship, or that they will split us up. It's covered for police officers, but not for CSI's. So we have a loophole."

Catherine sat up, looking Gil in the eyes. "When did you look this up?"

"I don't know. A month or so ago, I guess. Why?"

"Why were you looking it up?"

"Catherine…"

"Gil, just answer the question please."

Gil remained silent for a moment, his thoughts racing through his mind. "I wanted to know where we stood. What could happen. I know what we have, together…it's just starting, at least from a dating standpoint. We've been taking it slow, but I know we're going to be together forever. I just needed to know what we had to look forward to at work."

"You've been thinking about us?"

"I think about us all the time, Cath."

She leaned in, brushing her lips across his. "So do I." She smiled, brushing her hand against his cheek. "You always surprise me, you know that? I never really thought about you thinking about us. Does that make sense?"

He brought his hand up to hers, grasping is slightly. "It makes perfect sense. And the feeling is definitely mutual. I can't begin to count the number of times you have managed to surprise me." He lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze darkening as his focus shifted to her injuries.

"It's going to heel."

"I know. I just hate that it happened. I swore to myself that I would never let anything happen to you again…"

"Gil, there's no way you could have predicted this, or stopped it. Sometimes… things just happen. We deal with it and go on. We'll get through this. I know we will." She felt him release her arm, and slowly moved it back to her lap. "So, what are you going to make me for supper?"

Gil grinned, watching the smile appear on her face. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Changing the subject. Listening to me. Being here just now… just everything."

"Hey, this is a two way street you know. You're allowed to be weak too. You don't have to keep strong for me, I know that this is bothering you, just let it out."

"I think I just did."

Catherine stared at him, remaining silent for the time being.

"It's not enough, is it?" Gil questioned.

"Good enough for now. Just promise me that if you need to talk you'll come to me. You don't need to protect me from your feelings, just come to me."

"I promise." Gil answered, leaning in slightly to seal it with a kiss. "Now, about that dinner… what do you want?"

"I don't know. But I'm starving. I feel like I haven't eaten in days."

"You haven't. At least not much. Do you want to try soup again?"

"No! I'm sick of soup. I want an actual meal. I miss your cooking."

"Then what do you want?"

"Didn't we just go through this? What do you have?" Catherine asked, enjoying their teasing.

"Why don't we go and see? I haven't been shopping in a little while, but I'm sure I have enough to work with." Years ago, Gil couldn't have been so certain of this fact… or even a few months ago. But since he started this new relationship with Catherine, he had started becoming a bit more domesticated. Enjoying spending his time off away from work, as opposed to being locked up in his office. He stood and looked back down at Catherine. "Do you want to wait here or do you want me to bring you to the kitchen?"

"Have I mentioned how much I hate this?"

"One or two times." He said, reaching a hand to her. "It's not going to be that much longer. Then you can hobble around on a walking cast. Until then, I get to be your chariot."

"And does my chariot await?"

"Always, my dear." He answered automatically. Lifting her into his arms, he brought her to the kitchen and gently set her on her feet in front of the table. "Hold on for just a second, and I'll get this chair pulled out."

Catherine nodded, and patiently waited while Gil busied himself behind her. Feeling his hands wrap around her waist, she let him guide her backwards, into the chair.

"You comfortable?" Gil asked. Once he saw her confirm his question, he started opening the cabinets. "I have some pasta. There's some taco shells in here…"

Gil bent over to further look in the cabinets, and Catherine let her mind wander. No longer hearing what he was saying, she concentrated on the sight in front of her.

"Are you listening to me?"

Catherine jumped slightly when she felt his hand on her shoulder. "Sorry." She could feel the heat rising to her face.

"Don't be sorry. I'm flattered."

She glanced down at the floor, her face blushing more at being caught. Not only being caught, but having the object of her attention point it out so bluntly. "Tacos."

"What?"

"Let's have tacos. Do you have more then just shells?"

Gil turned to the refrigerator, letting her change the subject for now. Opening the door, he glanced inside, finding all the ingredients he needed. "Looks like you're in luck. Everything seems to be here." Gil gathered the lettuce, cheese and tomatoes in his arms before turning around to Catherine. "You know, you don't need to be embarrassed. You're allowed to look at me like that."

"I just…. How did we think we could hide this from the others? I can't stop staring at you when we're alone. How many times do you think I was caught at work?"

"Catherine…"

"It's a legitimate question. I know this isn't the first time I've been distracted by you. Distracted to the point where I don't even notice what's going on in front of me. So how could we have possibly thought that other's wouldn't notice it?"

"Hindsight is always twenty twenty. But we don't have to worry about that anymore, I think we've pretty much been outed. I'll call Mobley in the morning, make sure he's aware."

"So… did I ever distract you to that point?"

"Constantly. Catherine you've distracted every male in the lab to that point." Gil put the cheese and vegetables on the table and grabbed a cutting board. "Want me to call Lindsey in to help?"

"No, I can do it." She moved the items in front of her, taking the knife from Gil as he brought it to her.

They worked together as well as always, only instead of dealing with bugs and blood they were working with food.

"How are you doing, Cath?" Gil asked as he stirred the spices into the hamburger.

"Just finishing."

"I'm just about done here too. I'll go get Lindsey so she can get washed up." Gil wiped his hands on the towel and stepped out of the kitchen, returning minutes later with Lindsey in tow.

Lindsey helped Gil set the table and soon the small family sat down to their meal. Content for the moment in their domestic tranquility.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Email: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are

the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful

actors who portray them.

Author's Notes: It's been a long time... anyone even remember this fic. The first eleven chapters can be found on , for those that don't remember... or need a refresher on the fic. I have to say any similarities to anything that may have happened in "King Baby" is a complete coincidence. This chapter has been finished since January, it just took me a while to get it to my beta.

Many thanks to Marianne, as always, for being a wonderful beta... not to mention answering all my doubts.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: anything and everything is fair game but nothing specific

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage

XOXOXO

"I want to go with you."

"We've already discussed this, Cath." Gil said turning from the dresser, pulling the shirt over his head.

"No, we haven't. I should be there Gil."

He picked the ointment up off the dresser and walked across the room, sitting on the bed and placing her arm in his lap. He began unwrapping her arm as he talked. "You haven't been released for work yet."

"This isn't work, it's a meeting. I'm perfectly able to sit in an office…"

"I know you are, Cath. But I don't want…"

"You can't protect me from everything, Gil." She looked down and watched as he finished applying the ointment and rewrapped her hand. "I know that's what you are trying to do. But I'll be fine. We need to face Mobley together. If you go there alone, you're just going to prove to him that we can't keep our private lives separate from our personal lives."

"You're not going to let me win this one."

Catherine grinned her victory. "You don't have a chance."

"I just want…"

"I know what you want. And it's sweet. But I don't need to be protected from Mobley. I want to fight for us as much as you do."

He rose from the bed, taking the medication and old bandages with him. He tossed the bandages into the trashcan and turned back to her. "What do you want to wear?"

XOXOXO

Catherine turned her head and watched Gil as he shifted in the chair once again. "Would you quit fidgeting? I don't think I've ever seen you so nervous."

"I can't help it. How can you sit there so calm? Our entire lives are resting in his hands… and he isn't exactly the most sympathetic person in the world."

Catherine couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of her.

"I don't really see this as a laughing matter."

"I don't think I've ever seen you this melodramatic. Everything is going to be alright, Gil."

"How can you say that?"

"What's the worst that can happen?"

Gil looked up at her, studying her intensely.

"Just answer my question. What's the worst that can happen?"

"He splits us up. Moves you to days."

She nodded, looking around to see if anyone was watching and then put her hand over his. "I get moved to days. It would suck, but it's not the end of the world. We'd still have our evenings together. We would still be together. It's not the end of the world."

"I'd miss working with you."

"So would I. I don't want it to happen, but if it does it wont change our relationship."

They pulled back at the sound of the door opening and both looked up to see Mobley watching them.

"I'm ready to meet you now." He said before turning back into his office.

Gil cleared his throat and stood, moving behind Catherine to push her into the room. "Watch your hands, I don't want them getting caught in the wheels." Waiting until her arms were in her lap, he pushed her into the office, shutting the door behind them. Once he was sure Catherine was settled, he moved to the chair next to her.

"Catherine… how are you?"

"Doing better. I'm hoping to be back at work in another week."

"Don't push it. Take off as much time as you need." Mobley cleared his throat. "I'm pretty sure you didn't ask for this meeting to fill me in on Catherine's progress."

Catherine glanced at Gil, waiting to see if he would talk first.

"Sheriff, um… well I'll get right to the point. Catherine and I are dating."

He looked back and forth between them before saying anything. "How long has this been going on?"

"Not very long. A couple of months."

"You know there are rules against…"

"Rules against police officers. We're not cops. And there is nothing…"

"I'm sure it's implied."

"But…"

"Excuse me." Catherine interrupted the two men before they got carried away. "As Gil was saying, there is nothing listed that says we can't work together. Our relationship hasn't effected our work at all."

"Yes it has." Mobley said, stopping Catherine from continuing her speech. "If this had happened a year ago, Gil wouldn't have taken off work to…"

"Yes I would." Gil interrupted. "Catherine and I have been friends for a long time. As much as she protests, she needs help right now and I would never let her go through this alone. I wouldn't let anyone go through this alone if I could help."

"I don't…"

"Just give us a chance." Catherine asked. "Let us prove that we can do our job while continuing our relationship. I go back to the doctor next week. Once I get the walking cast put on, I'll be able to move on my own, I'll be able to start back at work. We've been dating for two months without anything spilling over into our working lives. And if it wasn't for… this… no one would have known anything was going on. All I'm…"

"Catherine. You can stop talking now." Mobley remained quiet, watching the two of them nervously glance at each other. "The time you are recuperating won't be included in your trial time. Once you are back in the field I'll give you a month to prove to me you can continue working together. Gil, you may want to spend the time learning a bit from Catherine. State your case without trying to argue with me. I'm not that hard to get along with."

"I have another question." Gil spoke up, immediately getting the attention of the other two in the room. "I need to requisition the use of one of the Tahoe's for personal use."

Brian looked at Gil then turned his attention over to Catherine and the wheelchair. "That's fine. I take it it's just until after the doctor's appointment. If you need it longer just let me know." He stood from the chair and went to the door, opening it for them. "See… I'm not hard to get along with."

XOXOXO

"Gil?" Catherine asked as he pushed her down the hall.

"Hmm?"

"While we're here… could we just?"

"We are not going to the lab."

"I just want to see…"

"I know what you want to see. But you can't concentrate on the case right now. Let them deal with the details. We just need to concentrate on getting you better."

Catherine put her hand down towards the wheels, quickly grasping the hand rest when Gil screeched to a stop.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting you to stop. Did I just hear you say that I need to let someone else handle a case?"

Gil walked around to the front of the chair, kneeling in front of her. "Sounds foreign coming from me." He smiled and reached for her hand. "Trust me, there is no other case I would rather be working right now. But I want this case solid. I don't want anyone getting off on a technicality. And if that means that I have to stays hands off, then that's what I have to do."

Catherine nodded and crossed her hands in her lap, watching as Gil stood and went back behind the chair. She remained quiet as he pushed her out of the building towards the car. "This is hard."

"I know. It's hard for me too." He opened the car door and lifted Catherine into the passenger side. Once he secured the buckle, he put the chair in the back and moved to the drivers side. "Ready to go back home?"

Catherine smiled and turned to him.

"What?"

"Home. You never call your place home. I like the sound of that."

"I guess it's never really felt like a home before. I like having the two of you there."

"That's something you never would have said a year ago."

Gil smiled and reached for her hand. "I didn't have a home a year ago. It took you to make it a home."

XOXOXO

to be continued...


	13. Chapter 13

Title: The Revolving Door

Author: Angie

Disclaimers: Fortunately, CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. If they did belong to me, I'm sure no one would have ever heard of them.

Author's Notes: Anyone remember this fic? I haven't given up on it... I'm just slow. Many thanks to Jaclyn for betaing this for me.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Anything and everything is fair game but nothing specific.

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage.

XOXOXO

"Are you ready for this?"

"Definitely." Catherine said, shifting on the cold exam table. "I'm tired of that wheel chair. And as much as I love you, I'm tired of being dependant on you for practically every move I make."

"You love me?"

"Why is that a surprise? We've been through this before."

Gil smiled and reached for her hand. "Doesn't mean I'm any less shocked to hear you say it."

"Guess I'll just have to remember to say it more often, get you over your shock."

Gil smiled, stepping closer to her. "I'd love to hear it more often. I've been thinking… I like having you and Lindsey around."

"Gil?" She squeezed his hand, tugging slightly to get him closer to her. "Let's not go there yet. A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Let's just try to get through this before we talk about our relationship. I don't want any of our decisions to be based on what happened to me. They need to be based on our feelings."

"What happened to you isn't changing my feelings. And it's not changing my plans, it's just speeding them up." Gil looked down at their combined hands, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the back of her hand. "I could have lost you, Cath. I wasn't prepared for that."

"No one's ever prepared for that Gil. You just…" Catherine stopped at the knock at the door, turning her head in time to see the doctor stepping into the room.

"Catherine Willows?" At her nod, the doctor stepped into the room, extending his hand to Catherine then to Gil. "I'm Dr. Pierce. I was just looking over your x-rays from the emergency room, comparing them to the ones we just took here in the office. Your fracture is healing nicely. Normally I'd like to keep this cast on for a few weeks longer, but from what I understand we need to get the cast off to treat the wound on your ankle." At Catherine's nod, he continued. "The nurse is getting a moon boot for you. This will stabilize your fracture so you can continue to heal, but will give you the opportunity to treat the laceration. Once the nurse gets the boot in here, I'll remove that cast. I'll warn you though, the wound you have on your leg isn't going to look very good. But once the cast is off and you can start treating it, hopefully it will heal properly."

Catherine nodded, turning her head slightly to look at Gil, the anxiousness evident on her face.

Gil leaned in, whispering, "You'll be fine. And once you get that moon boot on you'll actually be able to move around on your own." He glanced at the doctor.

"He's right. It's a bit awkward to walk with, but it has to be better than the wheelchair." Dr. Pierce said, turning from the wall, now donning a pair of latex gloves. He walked over to the exam table, reaching towards the metal cart in the middle of the room. "My cast cart." He explained. "I need you to hold your leg still during this. I don't want to cut you."

Catherine nodded, leaning back on the table so she couldn't see what the doctor was doing. A slight buzzing sound got her attention and she lifted her head, watching as the small circular saw revved in the doctor's hand.

Moments later a nurse walked into the room, placing the boot on a table, she went to the exam table and firmly grasped the cast foot. She looked up, easily able to see the fear in Catherine's eyes. "Don't be scared. He's very good with that saw, we're just going to loosen the cast a little and then remove it by hand. If you want to watch I can incline the table a little, make things a little more comfortable for you."

Catherine bit her lip, silently weighing her options. She tightened her grip on Gil's hand. "I want to watch."

The nurse quickly moved to the head of the table and with Gil's help, elevated the head thirty degrees. Once Catherine was settled, she moved back to the end of the table and grasped the cast foot again.

"Ready?" Dr. Pierce asked. With her nod of approval, he again revved up the saw, slowly moving it to the cast. First he made a circle about two inches above her ankle them he made five incisions in the cast before turning the saw off and setting it on the cast cart. He took the spreader from the nurse and moved back to the cast, glancing up at his patient to be sure that she wasn't in any pain. Seeing that everything appeared to be alright, he moved to the first incision, using the instrument to spread the gap. He quickly spread the slices around the cast, nodding as he worked. Once the cast was loosened, he reached for the scissors, carefully cutting away the gauze that wrapped her leg. "Have you ever had a cast before?"

Catherine shook her head, her eyes glued to what the doctor was doing.

"Okay. When I lift off this piece you're going to notice a difference in your leg. It's going to be pale and the skin is probably going to be dried out." After explaining to Catherine what to expect, he removed the piece of plaster, nodding as the skin came into sight. Soon the cast was off the lower portion of her leg, leaving the section around her foot and ankle. "Normally when I remove a cast we do it all at once." He explained. "In your case, I need to alter my methods a little. Now that I have the upper portion of the cast off, we can get a peek underneath and see how your leg wound is doing."

Once again, Catherine nodded, wincing slightly as he manipulated the skin under the cast.

"Sorry about that. I had feared something like this might happen. It looks like the wound is healing around the gauze of the cast. So what we are going to do is soak the remainder of the cast in a solution of water and vinegar." The doctor explained, nodding to the nurse to get the needed supplies. "I'd like to give you a shot, to help with the pain. The water solution may burn when it comes in contact with the wound. And the wound may open once we start removing the gauze."

"I don't want…"

"Catherine," Gil interrupted. "Let him give you the shot. I know you don't like that groggy feeling, but I don't want to see you in pain."

"Okay." Catherine gave in with no further argument.

"Hurts, huh?" Gil asked, squeezing her hand slightly. At her questioning look, he continued. "You gave in too easily. You never let me win that fast."

Catherine watched as the doctor left the room to get the medication. Once they were alone again, she gripped Gil's hand tighter, glancing at her leg. "It looks so bad."

"He told you…"

"I know. I guess I just didn't really expect…why is my leg smaller?"

"Lack of use. I'm sure once you are on it again and moving around normally it will go back to normal."

"How bad do you think that wound is going to be?"

"I'm not sure." Gil stated truthfully. "It's healing around the cast… it's good that it's healing, but it's probably going to open when they try to take it off. If that happens… we'll take care of it. At least I have experience putting the cream and bandages on."

Catherine smiled. "You're very good at it too. Think I can keep you around while this wound heals?"

"Just try and get rid of me." He leaned down, softly bringing his lips to hers. Pulling back slightly, he stared into her eyes. "I'm not planning on leaving you, Cath."

"Ahem…" The nurse cleared her throat, stepping back into the room. "Sorry to interrupt you."

"That's alright." Catherine muttered. She watched as the nurse filled the basin with water and a bit of vinegar, placing the basin on the stool and moving it to the side of the examination table.

"Once we start soaking that cast, I'll check back periodically to see how you are doing. This will take a little time, so I hope you don't have plans to be anywhere soon." Seeing their reaction, she continued. "Good. Dr. Pierce told me you agreed to a pain shot, so I'll go and get the medicine and be right back with you." She glanced at Catherine's medical record before turning back to the couple. "Just to verify, you have no allergies, correct?"

"That's right."

"Good. I'll be right back with your medicine and we'll start getting the rest of that cast removed."

Before they knew it, the nurse and doctor were back in the room. The nurse moved to Catherine's side, motioning for Gil to step out of the way. "Just for a minute." She explained. "Unless you'd rather me give this shot somewhere else?"

Catherine took one look at the needle and quickly rolled to her side. "Just don't give me any warning, I'll tense up." She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the shot. Clenching her teeth, she forced herself to relax, hoping the pain med kicked in soon.

"All done." The nurse said, dropping the syringe into the sharps container on the wall. "That should kick in very shortly." She stepped out of the way and motioned for Gil to take his place next to Catherine.

"If you could sit up, Catherine." The doctor motioned towards her. "We need you to dangle your leg over the side here so we can get the cast in the solution. We're going to start with just the bottom at first, give the medicine a chance to work and in about fifteen minutes we'll get your foot fully immersed." Once her foot was dangling over the side of the table he slowly spun the stool, raising it until the bottom inch of her foot was in the water. "See you in about fifteen minutes." He winked, stepping out of the room with the nurse.

"How you feeling?"

Catherine shrugged her shoulders, not vocalizing her thoughts.

"Cath? Talk to me."

"I don't know."

"Are you in pain?"

She thought for a minute, looking up to his eyes. "I've been in pain since this nightmare began, but I actually hurt a little less now. Is it weird that I'm becoming accustomed to the ribs? They still hurt every time I breathe, but I'm used to it. I expect the pain to be there."

"You shouldn't have to be used to it." Gil hopped up onto the examination table next to her, grasping her hand within his. "I hate that this happened."

"I got you out of it though."

"You had me, it just sped things up."

Catherine nodded, glancing down at the water. "It certainly did speed things up. Who'd have thought that we'd be living together, even if it is temporary…"

"What if it's not temporary?" Gil interrupted.

"Gil…"

"I know you don't want to talk about it. I can't help it. You've been on my mind lately. And I keep thinking…"

"Not here. Can't we do this later?"

Gil turned to her, taking in her features. "Is something wrong? I thought you'd be happy…"

"I am, I am." She reassured him, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. "I told you earlier, a lot has happened. I just don't want you mistaking your feelings…"

"I'm not."

"And I'd rather discuss our future somewhere other than a doctor's office." Catherine continued, leaning against Gil and resting her head on his shoulder. "I do love you. I just… I don't want to talk about personal things here. People keep walking in…" Catherine trailed off, stifling a yawn. "Damn medication. I hate this feeling."

"I know." Gil muttered, raising his hand to sweep her hair from her face before placing a kiss on her forehead. "We can talk later, okay. Just know that time and change of venue isn't going to change my mind."

Catherine was about to reply when the nurse walked back into the room.

"How are you two doing?" She asked, walking into the room and taking a look at Catherine's foot. "Looks like the pain medication is kicking in."

"Oh yeah." Catherine agreed.

"I'm just going to raise the stool a bit higher now. I'll go slow. Even with the pain medication, the wound on your ankle might burn when it comes in contact with the solution. Unfortunately there isn't anything else we can do, but it will ease as you become accustomed to the liquid."

Catherine nodded, tightening her hold on Gil. She watched as the nurse slowly spun the stool, her foot sinking deeper into the solution. The solution crept past the edge of the cast and Catherine bolted upright, her eyes widening in pain.

"Sorry." The nurse apologized, watching as Catherine automatically lifted her foot from the water. Waiting a few minutes, she put her hand on Catherine's knees, slightly easing her foot back into the liquid. "Just give it a little time, it will get better."

Catherine nodded, her hand tightening its grasp on Gil. She blinked back the tears, burying her head into his shoulder.

Gil wrapped his free arm around Catherine, pulling her tight against his body. He watched the nurse check over her work before slipping out of the room, leaving the two of them alone again. Pressing a kiss to her head, he shuddered as he felt her tears soak through his shirt. "Cath?" He moved his hand, caressing her back before moving up, brushing back the hair that was covering her face. "Talk to me."

"It hurts."

"I know honey… I wish I could take it away." He sighed, his heart breaking as she sniffled back a tear. He sat silently, holding her closely as he waited for her to become accustomed to the pain. "Cath?"

"It's better." She assured him before rubbing her hand over her eyes. Sitting up, she smiled a thanks to Gil, before looking back down to the water. "I don't think that wound is closed anymore. Damn that hurts."

"That shot should fully kick in soon, hopefully that will numb the pain."

"Or at least get it to a manageable dull throb." She sniffed, slowly raising her head to look at Gil. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"Don't apologize."

"You know that sting when you get salt in an open wound?"

"Yeah."

"I'd love for this to feel like that." Catherine shifted, uncomfortably on the table before settling herself back into Gil's side. "So…how long do you think it will be before I can get back to work?"

"Let's wait until you get the cast fully off first." Gil looked down at the water, now a slightly milky color. "How's it feel?"

"Still hurts, but I can tell it's loosening. Hopefully they can get this off soon.."

Catherine had just uttered the words and the door opened.

"How are you doing in here?" Dr. Pierce asked, stepping into the room.

She shrugged, looking down at her foot.

The doctor walked across the room, sitting on the free foot stool and pulling on a pair of gloves. He felt the cast, watching the slight give under his skilled hands. "I think we're ready to get this cast off."

"Good." She kept her eyes focused on the doctor, watching as his hands moved over the cast in the water. He raised his hands out of the water, shaking the excess plaster residue off his gloves. He stood and moved across the room, Catherine's eyes glued to him.

"I just loosened some of the remaining plaster. Changing my gloves now, then I'll lower the stool so your foot is no longer submerged. After that I'm going to begin unwrapping the cast." Turning around from the sink, he slipped on another pair of gloves, smiling at the nurse, who had just stepped into the room. He motioned toward the basin of water and watched as the nurse began lowering the stool. "Thanks." He quickly began his work, with the aid of the nurse. They soon had the gauze removed except for the few layers directly over the wound. "Do you have any scissors?" He asked the nurse, holding out his hand for the item.

"Scissors?"

"Just going to snip a little of the bandage." The doctor explained to the paling Catherine. "The gauze is wet, so I'm hoping it's loosened from the wound and I'll be able to easily remove it from your leg."

"What if it hasn't?"

"Well unfortunately I'm going to have to get it off. I can give you a local anesthetic to numb your leg, soak the gauze a little more and remove it."

The remaining color drained from Catherine's face and she wobbled a little on the table. Gil quickly pulled her tighter to him, stabilizing her against himself.

"Don't worry. This isn't an uncommon occurrence." The doctor assured. He reached for the edge of the dressing, slowly but firmly unwrapping the gauze. Concentrating on his work, a slight smile appeared on his face as he watched the wound come into view. "Very good." He muttered, continuing his work. He looked up at Catherine, blindly setting the gauze on a tray next to him. "That wasn't bad. Just a few places on the wound opened. I'm going to get a culture of the wound and make sure nothing is growing in there, but it looks really good. I'm going to have the nurse put a little antibiotic ointment and a dressing over the wound before we get the boot on you. Once you get home, I want you to start treating this wound as you have the ones on your other extremities."

Gil nodded, listening intently to the doctor's instructions.

"Once you get settled in that boot, you're free to go. Be sure to set up a follow-up appointment with me in four weeks. I'll get another x-ray, check how everything is healing. If you have any questions feel free to call the office." He stood, moving over to the sink, peeling off the gloves. He quickly washed his hands and turned back around. "Do you have any other questions?"

"When can I go back to work?" Catherine asked quickly, not giving Gil a chance to say anything.

"Well… you'll need to restrict your time on your feet. I don't want you pushing yourself too far and further injuring your ankle. No more than four hours of standing during a shift, and I don't want those hours consecutive. You'll want to take pain medication before going to work." He could see her starting to protest and quickly jumped in. "I know it makes you drowsy. But without it, especially the first few days, you are going to be in a lot of pain. I'm sure if you explain the situation to your supervisor…"

"I'll understand." Gil nodded. "She can just work half shifts if she has to go back, there's a couch in the break room if needed."

"Good. Once I see you again, I'll see about getting your work restriction taken off. Until then, take it easy. Be sure to elevate your leg when you can. Any swelling, redness, fevers, chills give me a call. If the pain medicine isn't working you can also call me, I'll see about getting you something stronger." After assuring they had no more questions, he stepped out of the room.

The nurse sat in the chair recently vacated by the doctor, holding a swab. "I'm just going to swab the wound a little."

Catherine nodded, knowing full well what was going to happen next.

She slid the swab into the tube and placed it on a tray picking up a packet of ointment. "This shouldn't hurt at all. I'm just going to put on a bit of this ointment and wrap a bandage around your leg. Just make sure when you get home to use the same treatment you have on your other wounds." She reiterated. "You are going to need to keep the boot on at all times, even while sleeping. No showers for the time being, especially not with this wound. You want to avoid getting the boot wet if possible. A little water is alright, but not soaking it." She continued talking as she worked, reaching behind and grabbing the boot. "This is just like sliding on a shoe. Fasten the buckles so they are comfortable. You'll want to get some lotion to use for your leg, sometimes the boot causes your skin to dry out, and it's already dry from the cast. Any type of over the counter lotion is fine, just be sure to keep it away from your wound." She looked up, taking in their faces. "I know this is a lot to remember. I'll get some instructions for you before you leave. Just be sure to not overdo anything. Lots of rest and time off your ankle for a while. Any other questions?"

They both shook their heads.

"Okay. If you just wait a few more minutes, I'll go and get some instructions for you. You can go ahead and slip your clothes back on." She walked out of the room.

Gil hopped off the examination table and moved across the room to the shelf, grabbing Catherine's clothes and turning back to her. "Your leg still numb?"

She nodded, watching as he moved back to her.

"Let me help you." When she didn't protest, he reached behind her opening the ties in the back of the gown. He slid the gown down her arms, setting it next to her on the table. He brushed his hand over the bare skin, looking questioningly at her.

"The bandage fell off this morning while I was getting dressed."

"Why didn't you ask…"

"I tried to rewrap it myself. But I don't know if that would be possible if my ribs were fine."

"I'd have helped." Gil slowly moved his hand over the now yellowed bruises, watching her inhale.

"There wasn't time. We were running late anyways, and had to get Lindsey to school. I just thought I'd try going without the ace wrap for a day."

"How's it feel?"

"Hurts." Catherine replied sheepishly. "Not sure if it hurts more than normal, but I definitely notice it more as I move."

"I'll rewrap it when we get back." Gil said, lifting the pale green shirt and helping her slide into it. He quickly moved his hands in front of her, buttoning the shirt before she could stop him. Once he finished with the shirt, he picked up the remaining item of clothing, looking at it questioningly then back to Catherine.

"Slide it up my legs first. Then you can help me off this table and I can pull it up the rest of the way."

Gil nodded, bending down and sliding the skirt up her legs as far as he could. "Put your weight on your good ankle, I don't want you to fall because you can't feel your leg."

Catherine nodded and let Gil help her off the table. She kept her arms around his shoulder, smiling as she felt his hands slide the skirt into place and pull the zipper up. She glanced down, nodding as he smoothed the skirt into place.

"So…?"

"It feels good to be upright."

"Will you let me put you back in the wheelchair?"

"Gil…"

"Just until the shot wears off." He promised.

She sighed, letting him lead her to the chair in the corner. "Once this shot wears off, I don't want to see this chair again."

"I don't want to have to see you in it again either." Gil told her, leaning down, his lips gently grazing hers.

XOXOXO

to be continued


End file.
